It is mainly found in southeastern South Carolina, southern Georgia, most of Florida and the coastal islands of Georgia and Florida. 

They like to live in dry, sandy places, near woods or grasses and they live in the burrows, along with many other animals that live in the burrow, such as the dung beetle, gopher frog, pine snake, and the eastern diamondback rattlesnake. 

This tortoise is 6 to 15 inches long and is gray or dark brown with a yellowish undershell. The front legs of the gopher tortoise are  extremely important. They look like elephant's legs and are very strong so they can dig burrows to live in and help carry the shell on its back.  

They mainly eat grasses, succulent plants, legumes, weeds, and they also eat fruits and mushrooms. 

Gopher tortoises lay 4-7 eggs each year, around April to June. It takes 70-100 days to hatch. They usually stay with their mother until they are between 10-15 years old. It takes these tortoises 16-21 years  to mature and live 40 years or longer. 

The number of gopher tortoises is estimated to have been reduced by 80 percent  over the last 100 years! In Mississippi and South Carolina it is listed as an endangered species, in Georgia and Alabama it is listed as a "nongame species", in Louisiana it is listed as an unprotected species (or is not  protected in any way) and in Florida it is known to be a  "special concerned species". 

There are many reasons  why this animal is endangered: loss of habitat because of  intensive land use, many fires that kill them, they are run  over by cars, and raccoons eat their eggs and newly hatched babies. Some tortoises get a coughing sickness,  which make them very weak. 

During the Depression, families used to eat them so they wouldn't starve and even  today, people eat gopher tortoises because they believe that it will help their medical problems.  

Many states enforce a law against killing these tortoises. The  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and all of the federal wildlife refuges, national parks, and seashores protect the gopher tortoises. 

In order to help save the gopher tortoises, I would first start a program to make people aware that they  are endangered. I would send out flyers for more people to help and I would put up signs that say "Gopher Tortoise Crossing. Be Alert!" near the streets where they would cross so they wouldn't get hit.  

Written by / geschreven door : Allison

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