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The Nature Conservancy in Georgia Georgia Home Contact Places We Protect Field Trips & Events Press Releases Volunteer Ways of Giving Landmarks Publications How We Work |
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By Randy Tate
Chris was the first of us to see the gopher tortoise perched right in the middle of the apron of her burrow. "Stop," he said, "it's a gopher."
We all immediately complied, knowing that she could quickly retreat underground if the least bit spooked by our presence. But she didn't.
We slowly edged closer, cameras gradually coming out to the ready. Why wasn't she retreating? Dirk caught on first.
"I think she's laying eggs!" he said. And sure enough she was.
Chris Jenkins, Ph.D., and Dirk Stevenson, both of Project Orianne, an initiative to protect the threatened indigo snake, and I were at The Nature Conservancy's Broxton Rocks Preserve in Coffee County, Georgia, mostly looking for indigo snakes.
Indigos use gopher tortoise burrows for their underground retreats, as do hundreds of other species.
We had seen many gopher tortoises the day before on a trek through the Altamaha River watershed - a good thing! - but no indigo snakes. This was somewhat to be expected since the snakes are always less seen and, at this time of year, are not confined to dens.
But late May is one of the best times to see gophers since they are mating and laying eggs, just like our gal at Broxton.
A Wonder of Nature
Chris, Dirk and I slowly walked around behind the tortoise to see how far she was into her egg laying. She had excavated a cavity in the soft, sandy earth right smack dab in the middle of the apron of her burrow.
Gopher tortoise burrows can be easily spotted in the woods by the large mounds of sand that are brought up from underground when they dig their burrows. These are what are often referred to as aprons.
The egg cavity looked deep but did not contain any eggs yet. As we crouched down behind her, we could see the very tip of the first egg emerging. Once into the intense business of laying her clutch, she was not bothered by our presence and seemed oblivious to everything else. Still, we feel into silence, amazed by what we were seeing.
Dirk, one of the Southeast’s premier herpetologists has spent years in the field, yet he had never witnessed a gopher tortoise in the act of egg laying. Finding that out, I was even more awed by the sight before us. I stood and they crouched for what seemed like a very long time, still silent in the intense heat, but nonetheless loving our chosen professions.
It took our gal a long time to squeeze out the first egg. She strained and grunted and stretched her neck out until finally depositing the egg just where she wanted it, in the cavity. Thereafter, her clutch came out more easily and more quickly.
I would have thought that a tortoise’s eggs may be soft and a little pliable upon emerging, but these were already hardened and you could hear them "clink" against the others in the clutch as each was dropped. In all, she laid seven eggs, just what Dirk said was the standard clutch size for her species.
After the last egg was laid, we backed off and let her finish the task of covering up her clutch. We feared that having finished she might become spooked by our presence.
A Species Under Threat
The gopher tortoise is declining across its range and is already listed as a federally threatened species in the western portion of the Southeastern United States, the only place on earth it is found.
Here in Georgia much habitat has been lost. But the struggle to save this species is far from over.
Preservation of habitat followed by proper land management is the key to the perpetuation of the gopher tortoise and the many other declining species, like the indigo snake, that cohabit with it.
At Broxton Rocks Preserve, this tortoise enjoys protected habitat that's managed with prescribed fire, the essential component to the longleaf/wiregrass ecosystem. Gopher tortoise are very long-lived animals and if we continue to manage this habitat, hopefully she'll keep laying eggs for years to come.
Randy Tate has worked for The Nature Conservancy for more than 18 years. He is currently based in Atlanta and serves as the director of science and stewardship for the Georgia state program. Randy can be contacted at rtate@tnc.org.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Randy Tate/TNC (gopher tortoise); Photo © Nate Thomas/TNC(Eastern indigo snake); Photo © Nate Thomas/TNC (Randy Tate);
