Critter Comic - Gopher Tortoise by Michelle
Gopher Tortoise
Gopherus polyphemus
Part elephant. Part shovel. It's an animal we can all dig.
This is a Gopher Tortoise. Not a gopher turtle. They can’t swim and they don’t love water. They actually get plenty of hydration from the plants they eat!
They are peaceful, land-dwelling vegetarians that hatch out of ping-pong ball sized eggs and grow into 40 pounds of hole-diggin awesome.
Gopher Tortoises are a Keystone Species.
Ecosystems that support Gopher Tortoises
would totally fall apart without Gopher Tortoises.
With their elephant-like, shovel feet they dig big,
underground burrows that maintain stable temps all year. The burrows are literally pretty cool.
The burrows help shelter the tortoises and like, 350 other species from drought and fire and other environmental hazards. They dig a lot of burrows and don’t mind sharing with all those other squatter species, whether they still live there or not.
They also help their habitats by eating plants and
pooping out their seeds. Over their roughly human lifespan they help spread diversity and maintain healthy plant growth one poo at a time.
Gopher tortoises have been pooping on
the planet for about 60 million years.
May they be able to poo on for another 60 million years and beyond.
Critter Comics by Michelle Jamesson
www.crittercomics.com