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The gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide shelter for at least 360 other animal species. G. polyphemus is threatened by predation and habitat ...
The diet of tortoises contain excess salt, sodium, chloride, and potassium that must be purged from the body, and drinking free standing water, even if only once or a few times each year, is essential for this function and for tortoise survival. Opportunities for gopher tortoises to drink water vary greatly between the species in the genus.
Edwards et al. sampled 233 tortoises that represented Sonoran and Sinaloan lineages of G. morafkai. [6] The authors then conducted a large-scale genetic analysis that when combined with significant ecological and morphological differentiation, suggested that the southernmost Gopherus "Sinaloan" population constituted a newly described species ...
The annual death rate of adults is typically a few percent, but is much higher for young desert tortoises. Only 2–5% of hatchlings are estimated to reach maturity. Estimates of survival from hatching to 1 year of age for Mojave Desert tortoises range from 47 to 51%. Survival of Mojave Desert tortoises from 1 to 4 years of age is 71–89%. [8]
During the Permian, the broadened ribs may have provided great stability in burrowing, giving a body shape resembling the extant fossorial gopher tortoise, with strong shoulders and forelimbs, and increased muscle attachment structures such as their tubercle on the posterior coracoid and their large and wide terminal phalanges creating shovel ...
The Bolson tortoise (Gopherus flavomarginatus), also called the Mexican giant tortoise, Mexican gopher tortoise, yellow-bordered tortoise or yellow-margined tortoise, is a species of tortoise from North America. Of the six North American tortoise species, it is the largest, having a carapace length of about 46 cm (18 in).
the Mojave or Agassiz's desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii); known primarily from the California counties of Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego. [5] Its range continues northeast of Death Valley and the Mojave Desert through the Nevada counties of Clark , Esmeralda , Lincoln and Nye , as well as Mohave ...
The distribution of Amblyomma tuberculatum has been thought to be intrinsically linked to the distribution of its primary host, the gopher tortoise, but the presence of gopher tortoises does not always equate to the presence of A. tuberculatum, with only 23% of gopher tortoise populations infested with A. tuberculatum in one study, suggesting a more restricted distribution for the tick than ...