Gopher tortoise

Gopher tortoises eat plants.

They munch grasses, leaves and fruit.

Gopher tortoises are plant eaters. They graze on low-growing plants: grasses, small flowering plants, leaves, fruits and even cactus. Scientists have recorded them eating 69 different kinds of plants.

By eating fruits and other plants, they help spread seeds, which can increase the variety of plants growing in an area.

The IUCN describes the gopher tortoise as usually a vegetarian dietary generalist, eating grasses, forbs, fruits, cactus and leaves, with 69 plant genera and species documented (Macdonald and Mushinsky 1988), varying with habitat. Tortoises are well documented as consumers and seed dispersers of native and non-native plants, which can increase plant diversity.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission summarizes the diet as low-growing plants, and the Animal Diversity Web links healthy feeding habitat to regular fire, which keeps the groundcover open.

Gopher tortoises dig long tunnels called burrows.

More than 350 kinds of animals use these burrows too.

The burrows keep animals safe from fire and heat.

Gopher tortoises dig burrows that are on average about 4.5 meters long and 2 meters deep. Inside, the temperature and dampness stay steady all year, so the burrow protects the tortoise from fire, heat, cold and drought.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says more than 350 other kinds of animals share gopher tortoise burrows. That is why the tortoise is called a keystone species: many other living things depend on what it does.

The Animal Diversity Web gives an average burrow length of 4.5 meters and depth of 2 meters, with a steady temperature and humidity through the year that protects the tortoise from fires, extreme temperatures and drought. The IUCN calls the species a keystone species and ecosystem engineer: its expansive burrows may house over 350 invertebrate and vertebrate commensals (Eisenberg 1983), its digging aerates the soil, and its burrows give other animals refuge during wildfires, prescribed fires and extreme temperatures.

ADW notes that individuals defend overlapping territories, with ramming and charging seen more often in the breeding season, and the IUCN notes that where habitat is not burned, tortoises tend to move to road and utility rights-of-way for food and basking, which raises their risk from traffic.

Gopher tortoises are in great danger.

Many of their sandy homes have been built on.

People protect them and move them to safe places.

The gopher tortoise is critically endangered. Most of the longleaf pine forest it lives in is gone: the IUCN says it has shrunk by 95 to 97% from its original size. Towns, roads, farms and mines also destroy and split up its habitat, and without regular fires many open woods grow too thick.

Predators such as raccoons, and invaders such as fire ants and feral hogs, eat many eggs and babies. In Florida the tortoise and its burrow are protected by law, and tortoises must be moved to safety before land is cleared.

Stemle and Howell assessed Gopherus polyphemus as Critically Endangered (A2bcde+3bce+4bce) for the IUCN Red List (assessed 7 August 2024, published 2026): an estimated reduction of at least 80% over the past three generations (120 years), a projected reduction of more than 95% over the next three, and an ongoing 80% reduction across two past generations and one future generation. In Florida, populations fell 50 to 80% since the 1960s. Threats include habitat loss and fragmentation from urbanization, roads, mining, agriculture and solar development; too little or badly timed fire; invasive predators (red imported fire ants, tegus, feral hogs) and subsidized predators; disease; and past hunting for food in the 20th century. Total protected population size was estimated at 70,122 in 2022 (Folt et al. 2022). It was previously assessed as Vulnerable (1996).

The western population has been federally listed as Threatened under the US Endangered Species Act since 1987 (IUCN). The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission lists the species as Threatened, protects both tortoise and burrow, and requires permits and relocation before land clearing.