Keep an eye out for the Florida gopher tortoise, a threatened species

If you see this slowpoke on the road, give him wide berth.

And, if traffic’s light, maybe even stop and give him a lift – off the asphalt.

This traveler – Florida’s native gopher tortoise –  merits special treatment.

Biologists call gopher tortoises a “keystone species.”

More:Sanibel wildlife hospital home to largest gopher tortoise on record in Florida

Just as a keystone – the one on top and in the center – is crucial to supporting an arch, any loss of this reptile negatively affects 350 to 400 different members of the animal kingdom who might take shelter in its burrow.

Some are occasional roommates. However, the gopher frog and the gopher mouse can’t dig their own burrows – and depend on the tortoise’s excavation skills.

Gopherus polyphemus is found in all of Florida’s 67 counties.

It’s a hardy species dating back 60 million years, with some members living up to 80 years in the wild and more than 100 years in captivity.

You’ll only find it wild in North America and east of the Mississippi River. It’s on the threatened lists in Florida and Georgia. Here’s why:

Gopher tortoises need large tracts of land for habitat, a rapidly disappearing resource in prime areas for growth and development. Predators and improper herbicide use also can be deadly: Only about 3 to 5 percent of young hatchlings survive past a year.

But road kill is one of the major causes of death for adult tortoises, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

And, although removing gopher tortoises from their homes is against the law, they are so easy to catch that some people continue to kill and eat them or keep them as pets.

Pamela Jones-Morton, a certified Florida master naturalist, gives talks on the gopher tortoise at Koreshan State Park, where she’s a volunteer.

 “I want people to understand this is another living being that we can help,” Jones-Morton said.

This park, just off U.S. 41 in Estero, is where a ginormous but underweight and lethargic gopher tortoise recently was discovered, and taken to the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife for treatment.

Clinic official said their patient from the state park could be 50 years old and of record-breaking size, with a shell measuring 17 inches long and weighing more than 33 pounds. As of this week, its condition was guarded. Whenever possible, CROW aims to restore animals to wellness, and return them to the wild.

CROW said it admits 60 to 75 gopher tortoises each year, mostly for injuries due to vehicle strikes.

Gopher tortoises live in high and dry places that people want to use, including sparsely treed pine and oak lands, pastures, prairies roadsides scrub and coastal grasslands and sand dunes.

To protect themselves from heat, cold, fire and predators, gopher tortoises dig burrows at a 30-degree angle about 10 feet deep and 50 feet long or more.

Look for a raised and sandy mound.

For reasons unclear to us humans, the gopher tortoise will move and create a new burrow. An active burrow will have a tidy, half-moon-shaped entrance. A burrow a tortoise has abandoned will have a rounder and messier entrance.

Five acres typically is a gopher tortoise’s home range. They usually forage within 150 to 200 feet of their burrow. But they can travel greater distances for better feeding opportunities and for breeding.

Although not very sociable, the tortoises don’t mind sharing with other critters the single-entrance burrow it digs with its strong, clawed legs.

Tortoises can’t back up, so the tunnel has to be dug as wide as the tortoise is long, so the creature can turn around inside.

Into the burrow crawl diamondback rattlesnakes, harmless eastern indigo snakes, burrowing owls, rabbits, foxes, skinks, armadillos and hundreds of insects and spiders.

Their diet includes cactus, succulents, grasses, beauty berry, sea grapes and sea oats, palmetto berries, flowers and pine needles.

Eating makes them ecosystem engineers of sorts: They prune and fertilize plants, Jones-Morton said.

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission has a smartphone app that encourages people to report gopher tortoise burrows: Take a look: You’ll see they’re everywhere from the residential yard along Fort Myers' McGregor Boulevard to inland parks such as Caloosahatchee Regional Park in Alva and Koreshan State Park as well as popular local beaches including Bowditch Point park on Fort Myers Beach and Lovers Key and Barefoot Beach near Bonita Springs.

“They can live next door to you, as long as you let them,” Jones-Morton said.

Beach-goers especially should be on the lookout for gopher tortoises in the public parking lots.  It’s a good idea to walk around your vehicle, check underneath by the tires before departing.

If you see a gopher tortoise crossing a road, stop if it’s safe to do so – and move it off the blacktop.

 “Do not put your life in danger to move a gopher tortoise," Jones-Morton emphasized.

But if you can move the creature safely, just be sure to position the tortoise in the same direction it was headed.

If you don’t, Jones-Morton said, “in 10 minutes he’s going to be back out there again.”

Learn more

Here are some ways to increase your gopher tortoise savvy:

Gopher tortoises of Koreshan State Park talk

When: 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22

Where: Art Hall in the park at 3800 Corkscrew Road, Estero, Florida 33928

What you’ll get: A discussion that will touch on the behaviors, anatomy and fun facts about the tortoises, and the opportunity to hold and see the shells of ones that lived in Koreshan State Park. There will be time at the conclusion of the talk for questions and answers.

Cost: Free with paid park admission

Reservations: Requested. Go to http://friendsofkoreshan.org/gopher-tortoise/

Gopher Tortoise Day at Koreshan State Park

When: 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, April 10

What you’ll get: A talk about gopher tortoises in Art Hall, an activity for young children and a walk to the burrows for closer inspection and possibly, a tortoise sighting.

Reservations requested.  Phone 239-992-0311. Or go online to http://friendsofkoreshan.org/events/

Report a sick or injured tortoise

*Weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., call 850-921-1030

*After hours and on weekends, call the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Alert hotline at, 1-888-404-3922

Text Tip@MyFWC.com

Get the gopher tortoise app

With this app, you can record the location of gopher tortoises you may see in your yard, neighborhood, or crossing the road. This information will help FWC biologists better understand where populations of gopher tortoises live. The app also contains gopher tortoise information and a fun quiz to test your knowledge, learn more about this protected native Florida species, and help protect and conserve gopher tortoises.

The free app is available for both Android and iOS smartphones.

Download at http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/managed/gopher-tortoise/app/ or go to the app store on your phone.