It’s Gopher Tortoise Day in Florida! 🐢 You can find gopher tortoises at many of our parks and nature preserves, munching on grasses and other plants along hiking trails. Fun fact: gopher tortoises dig underground burrows that are used for protection by dozens of other wildlife species. Have you seen a gopher tortoise before? Video: Jason Boeckman | Visit Fort Myers

🎉 Happy #GopherTortoiseDay! 🐢 For 60 million years, gopher tortoises have roamed Florida’s uplands, shaping the landscape and creating burrows that shelter hundreds of species. These gentle, long-lived reptiles play a vital role in our ecosystems, but they need our help. As part of our effort to educate the public about this important and wonderful creature, FWF has developed two signs that provide information about how to interact with this threatened species safely. These two signs display i

Gopher tortoises are ecosystem engineers whose burrows support a beautiful web of life. This is just another example of how much we need biodiversity. To learn more about biodiversity and what you can do to help, click here: �� Video Credits: Odyssey Earth, Brento Lapento, Lorenzo Phrazaphath, James Sullivan, Nathan Yoder, Mississippi Army National Guard, 102d Public Affairs Detachment, Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission | The Nature Conservancy

A quiet moment with a gopher tortoise, one of Florida’s most important and protected species. These gentle animals shape the ecosystem by creating burrows that shelter dozens of other creatures, making them true keystone residents of the wild. #gophertortoise #floridawildlife #keystonespecies #natureencounter #protectedwildlife #floridanature #wildflorida #slowandsteady #outdoorobservations #naturemoments | Florida World Nature