Our Gophers – Have No Fur
By Diane Barile
Florida gophers (Gopherus polyphemus) aren’t even mammals. If you pass a smooth hole in a pine or scrub forest, you have found the home of the ring leader of the habitat. The Florida gopher tortoise, a land turtle, is the keystone and outstanding resident of the region’s most endangered ecosystem.
You are most likely to see a tortoise hole rather than the animal. They spend eighty percent of their time underground, digging and burrowing. The door mat welcomes many animals. That makes the gopher the architect, landlord and motel operator of a habitat unique to our region. His tunnels, as deep as nine and as long as fifteen feet, provide sanctuary for as many as forty vertebrate and four hundred invertebrate animals.
The hot white sands of old sea dunes left from the Pleistocene are inhospitable to both warm and cold blooded species. The burrows protect the turtles’ quests from extremes of temperature and dehydration permanently or temporally, even from forest fires. The cool denizens nurture and provide places for feeding, reproduction and concealment.
Gophers have strange bed fellows. Gopher frogs live only in gopher turtle burrows. The thermo-regulated holes shelter a few snakes like the beautiful black racer. Ross Allen, the familiar snake expert from Silver Springs, led hunts for rattlesnakes from gopher holes each spring.
Gophers are well equipped for their work. Their bodies, of nine to fifteen inches, have shovel like front limbs for digging and protecting the retracted head. Don’t believe that these terrestrial reptiles are lazy. They burrow for eighty percent of their time and maintain several tunnels over several acres. Gophers move quickly and faster than their cousins.
Gopher turtles are the homing pigeons of the sand scrub. They have been known to travel two miles or more when foraging or seeking mates. If you encounter a gopher, he is most probably not lost. He knows where he’s going and how to get home. With careful observation, you may even find his oft used trails. No matter how moved, they start for their home burrow. Help them if they are about to cross a road or highway, and then allow them to travel on their chosen way.
The demise of the gopher foretells the loss of the entire endangered ecosystem. Humans can make amends for both past and recent trespasses on their survival. During the Great Depression “Hoover Chicken” was actually turtle meat gracing the table of some Floridians. Saturday nights, bars sometimes held gopher turtle races. Turtles were often taken home as pets with painted shells. Most usually the turtles burrow under the fence and began their trek toward home.
Today the major gopher challenge is habitat loss. High, dry lands are prime for people’s homes as well as for turtle burrows. There are state and federal rules for development of gopher habitat which direct that turtles be moved to appropriate lands of sufficient size for survival. It sounds reasonable, but remember the homing pigeon psychology of the gophers? They simply look over the new locale, then head back for home ground. Additionally the moved turtles are prone to a respiratory disease. Development workers are sometimes hired to house ailing gophers before or during relocation to prevent contamination of the newer refugia.
The gopher tortoise is the sustainer of the sand pine and pine scrub ecosystems, endangered world-wide. The gopher is the key sustainer of animal life in these highly endangered communities entrusted to our keeping. Pay a visit to the Turkey Creek Sanctuary or the Enchanted Forest to see these treasures. You may even meet a celebrated Gopherus polyphemus.