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RE: The Gopher Tortoise: A Keystone Species in Jeopardy
I had no idea about gopher tortoise. I live on the west coast of Florida and at least once a year they do a controlled burn of the local conservation lands. It's quite a site actually. I'm going to have to find the pictures of a turtle I took last year some time. I have not been able to find out what kind it is. Maybe you can help?
I lived in a quiet road near a lake and this guy was just wandering around. We didn't get a lot of traffic but I made sure he didn't get squished by cars heading to the boat ramp. I've never seen a turtle with this kind of shell before.
It's definitely one of the aquatic sliders... my best guess is a Peninsula Cooter (we found a similar one during our herpetology trip and I believe that is the identity we came up with), though I admit I am not incredibly familiar with many of Florida's turtles.
Thank you! At least it's a starting point. The google search for turtles in Florida yields dubious amounts of info.
Definitely true. I usually start with the local herpetological societies (most states have one) when doing identifications!