One reason that I am so interested in nature is my Dad. Here he is in 1991 stretched out on the driveway, having a heart to heart talk with a Gopher Tortoise about the state of the world. As always, I’m thinking of you Dad!

Gopher Tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) live in a small area, from southern South Carolina west through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and south through the peninsula of Florida, including the islands along the Gulf coast of Florida. They have an expected life span of 50 to 80 years in the wild.

These tortoises dig burrows which provide them an escape from predators and protection from extreme weather. Burrows which are 15 feet long and 7 feet deep or more. The burrows also provide shelter for at least 360 other animal species, because of this Gopher Tortoises are considered a keystone species meaning extinction would result in big changes in the natural world around them. Their conservation status: threatened to endangered.

Gopher Tortoises, are just one aspect of the wondrous world of nature.

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