Researchers often must capture or trap and physically handle wild animal species to obtain basic morphometric, physiological, or health data. Although these activities affect glucocorticoid levels in ...

Female Gopherus polyphemus in N Florida mature at 10-15 years of age and 220-230 mm plastron length (approximately 1700 to 1950 g). Vitellogenesis begins in September and continues until the following ...

Deputies routinely pull over speeders. However, a Florida deputy had the opposite issue when traffic was slowed down by a gopher tortoise taking a leisurely stroll along the highway. Deputy Leonard ...

Q. A question on Jeopardy last week was “what is a cyclops?” Part of the clue was “the gopher tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus.” I thought scientific names were supposed to be descriptive of the animal ...

This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's ...