Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus)

Gopher tortoises live on land and rarely go to the water. When a tortoise is disturbed, it pulls its head into its shell and covers its face with its front arms. Tortoises average 25 cm (10 in) in length and 4 kg (9 lb) in weight, but they can grow considerably larger. This is because Gopher tortoises are among the most long-lived animals on the planet. Tortoises in the wild can live 40-60 years, and tortoises in captivity can live more than 100 years! Another neat fact about tortoises is that the outside temperature determines the sex of their offspring. When tortoise eggs are laid, each egg does not have a sex. Depending on the temperature of the nest, all the eggs will come out male or female. It is possible that a female may be able to control what sex the eggs will be by laying them in a relatively warm or cool, shady location, but this has not been studied very well. This also occurs in the eggs of alligators.

Gopher Tortoises are known as "wildlife landlords." They dig multiple burrows in the area where they live, and many other animals use the tortoise burrows for shelter, too. Using their flat, front claws, the tortoises will dig out burrows approximately 4.5 m (15 ft) long. The burrows lead underground to a depth of about 2 m (6 ft). Researchers have identified over 300 different animal species in the burrows, including frogs, birds, mice, and snakes. Some of these species are endangered, such as the Eastern Indigo snake (Drymarchon corais couperi). The animals depend on these burrows as a place to go to stay dry when it rains and as a place to go to hide from predators. Therefore, gopher tortoises, and their active burrows, play an important role in the ecosystem.

The government protects gopher tortoises in order to prevent this species from going extinct. It is illegal to kill tortoises or take them from the wild. The most important laws that protect gopher tortoises, however, help them indirectly. These laws protect habitat where the tortoises live. The laws prevent some types of land development. Gopher tortoises cannot build burrows if land is paved. Development also breaks up habitat into small pieces, making it difficult for the tortoises to find food. And, roads going through habitat lead to tortoises getting killed by cars, a major cause of death.

The Longleaf pine habitat where tortoises live is adapted for occasional lightning-strike fires. Land stewards manage tortoise habitat with fire ecology. Gopher tortoises eat young grasses and tender green plants and their fruits. Through controlled burning, land managers burn overgrown vegetation. This allows sunlight to reach the ground, and new plants can grow. Gopher tortoises spread the seeds of the fruits they eat through the feces they leave on the ground. Their contribution to help plants grow new seeds is another reason gopher tortoises are considered an important ecosystem species.