Author: Neal Saye

Robert and I spent last week at our friend Gordon’s old farmhouse just north of the tiny town of Springfield GA.

Gordon, who lives in Arizona, told us that the last time he was at the farmhouse, he caught a quick glimpse of a gopher tortoise near its burrow on his property. That there are three of them, as far as he could tell. To be on the lookout!

For the first few days, we saw nothing. Then one day, when we arrived back at the farmhouse after lunch, we saw this poor little fellow trapped beneath the mesh wiring which Gordon had put down to protect his violas. Notice that there are no longer any violas around GT! (Gopher Tortoise).

Robert pulled back the mesh, and off GT went!

Back towards home.

I found it amazing that he made his way back so quickly and so accurately. After I showed Gordon the video, he told us that he thought GT was the smallest of the three tortoises that make his rural south Georgia property their home.

“Gopher tortoises are native to the upland pine forests of the southeastern United States, and are the only tortoise found east of the Mississippi. Their muted-brown, domed shells are distinctive; like a tiny round bulldozer plodding through the palmettos. Adult turtles average between nine and 11 inches long, although girthy adults can grow up to 15 inches. Like other slow-growing reptiles, these tortoises are especially long-lived, surviving an average of 40 to 60 years in the wild.

The tortoises are found on the coastal plain that stretches across Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. While the species is often associated with the longleaf pine forests, they are also found in other habitats, including coastal dunes, xeric oak hammocks, scrub, and dry prairie.

The thing that all of these ecosystems have in common? Sandy soils.” floridafishandwildlife

The gopher tortoise signature burrows can extend 10–40 feet long and up to 10 feet deep!

Or in GT’s case …

Where you find dark when all grows light.

Perhaps I wasn’t so silent on this Shhh Silent Sunday post, but GT certainly was.