GOPHER TORTOISE—

A tortoise is a land turtle.

We found this creature and lots of his kinfolk along the Withlacooche State Trail, at 46 miles, the longest paved multi-use trail in Florida. On our recent visit we rode about 16 miles south and back from Inverness in Citrus County, some 60 miles or so north of Tampa.

The turtle’s burrows were a common sight all along our ride; often accompanied by one of their inhabitants browsing on yummy vegetation nearby.

I managed to ambush this one with a silent approach on my bike then flopped to ground level, forcing it to make a slight detour around me to his nearby burrow.

It rewarded me with an expression of only mild annoyance as it hustled on at turtle velocity toward the comfort of its digs.

They are the only tortoise native to the US and the only one found in Florida.

Their burrows are up to 30 feet long with a den at the end. The burrows are used by more than 300 other critters that enjoy them for protection from bad weather, predators and fire.

These tortoises mate during April and May and the female will lay her eggs in a sand mound where they are often destroyed by predators. She can go as much as 10 years between successful breeding seasons.

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Saturday we take a peek at Payne’s Prarie, a 21,000 acre natural wonder just south of Gainesville, FL where this alligator, festooned with a bonnet of aquatic weeds, prowls for its lunch.

Please stop by!