The Gopher Tortoise - Nature's Landlord

Where exactly do you get a title at? The Lion is the King of the Jungle right? How cool is that? If I had one it probably would not be so flattering, alright now keep the wise cracks to you self! Knowing my friends I can guarantee it would be less than flattering. This brings me to an animal that has been given a title with some authority. The Gopher Tortoise, Nature's Landlord or maybe the Landlord of the Sand hills, either way it's definitely better than the moniker that I would probably end up with. The Gopher Tortoise is an obligate burrower with very stout and strong limbs. Its' claws are wide and flat with small protective scales extending up the tortoises shovel like front legs.

Their burrows can be up to 40 feet long and 10 feet deep, descending at a 30 degree angle. The width of the burrow is usually the length of tortoise, allowing for it to turn around in any section of the burrow. The male Gopher Tortoise can have an average of 17 burrows while the female maintains an average of 9, but it's common to have more than one tortoise sharing the same burrow. Fellow tortoises are not the only species that share the burrows, in fact not even close. The title Nature's Landlord comes from the fact up to 360 different animal species seek refuge in the tortoises burrow.

The list includes the gopher frog, the Florida mouse, opossum, indigo snake, pine snake, armadillo, burrowing owl, gopher cricket, scarab beetles, the Florida Scrub-jay and many others. The Gopher Tortoise is cold blooded averaging 10 inches long and up to 9lbs, its' life span ranges from 40- 60 years but in captivity can live more than 100 years. This particular tortoise belongs to a group of land tortoises that originated in North America nearly 60 million years ago and out of the nearly 23 species known to have existed on this continent as little as 4 species remain today. Once a year the female tortoise will lay an average of 6 eggs depending on their body size and it takes approximately 100 days for the eggs to incubate.

The gopher tortoises have temperature dependent sex determination, if the temperature of the sand is above 30 degrees the hatchlings will be female and below 30 degrees they will be male. The male tortoise has a concaved plastron (bottom shell) with a protruding plastron under the tortoises chin while the female's bottom shell is perfectly flat.

When the tortoises head and neck are completely retracted into the shell, the tortoise is generally safe from most predators. Although the tortoise has some natural threats like disease and climate, humans are the main cause for the decline of this species. In a list ranging from road mortalities to habitat destruction human interaction has played a major role in bringing this gentle herbivore closer to extinction. Florida has the gopher tortoise present in all 67 counties which has it on the list as a species of special concern.

Other states like Georgia, Louisiana. And Alabama have them listed as a threatened species but South Carolina and Mississippi have the tortoise on the endangered species list. The Gopher tortoise is an important part of the ecosystem and some of the species that share its burrows could not exist without them. Raising awareness and enforcing the protective laws is the only hope to keep Nature's Landlord from being evicted

Jeff Norris is owner of Nuisance Wildlife Relocation Inc. located in Parrish Florida. Jeff has over 11 years as a wildlife management professional and has been involved in Hunting, Fishing and Trapping since the age of 5. Jeff Loves the out doors and is a competitive archer. On January 5, 2003 Jeff Married his best friend Christy and not long after that year their beautiful daughter Haileigh was born, Jeff also has a wonderful son Keith that works for the family company during his vacation from school in the summer.

http://www.floridawildlifetrapper.com