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Information about Gopherus

Gopherus
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Desert Tortoise, Gopherus agassizii

Desert Tortoise, Gopherus agassizii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Sauropsida
Order:Testudines
Suborder:Cryptodira
Superfamily:Testudinoidea
Family:Testudinidae
Genus:Gopherus
Rafinesque, 1832
Species
4 species, see article.


Gopherus polyphemus is a genus of tortoises commonly referred to as gopher tortoises. The gopher tortoise is grouped with land tortoises that originated 60 million years ago, in North America. The gopher tortoises live along the coast of the southeastern United States and parts of northern Mexico. Gopher tortoises are so named because of their ability to dig large, deep burrows that can be up to 40 feet in length and 10 feet in depth. Their burrows are also used by a number of other species, which is what makes gopher tortoises so important to the ecosystem. Gopher tortoises can grow on average to around a foot long and weighs around 29 pounds. The gopher tortoise lives in habitats of long leaf pine sand hills, xeric oak hammocks, scrub, pine flat woods, dry prairies, and coastal dunes. However, the gopher tortoise is now listed as a threatened or endangered species, because of the rapid depletion of their habitat from land development.

Diet Gopher tortoises are mainly herbivores that feed on low growing plant life. Their diet consists mostly of grasses and legumes. Gopher tortoises are scavengers and will also feed on small berries, fruits and dead animals or excrements. Gopher tortoises are also rarely seen drinking from still water. Most of the water gopher tortoises consume comes from with in the food they eat.

Breeding Gopher tortoises usually mate during the months of April and May. The female will then choose either a sunny spot near by or a sandy mound in front of her burrow, to lay between 3 to 15 eggs. The eggs then hatch from 70 to 100 days later. Once hatched the baby tortoises spend most of their time in their mother's burrow until they learn to dig their own. They do not reach maturity until they are around 10 to 15 years old, and their shell measures in length to be about 9 inches.

There are currently four recognized species in the genus Gopherus:

Genus Gopherus:

References

Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Sauropsida*
Goodrich, 1916

Subclasses
  • Anapsida
  • Diapsida
Synonyms
  • Reptilia Laurenti, 1768
Reptiles are tetrapods and amniotes, animals whose embryos are surrounded by an amniotic membrane, and members of the class
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Testudines
Linnaeus, 1758

Diversity
ca. 300 species in 14 extant families.

blue: sea turtles, black: land turtles


Suborders

Cryptodira
Pleurodira
See text for families.
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Cryptodira
Linnaeus, 1758

Families
  • 13, See classification


Cryptodira is the taxonomic suborder of Testudines that includes most living tortoises and turtles.
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Testudinoidea
Fitzinger, 1826

Genera
  • Family Emydidae
  • Family Geoemydidae
  • Family Testudinidae
  • Family Haichemydidae (extinct)
  • Family Lindholmemydidae (extinct)
  • Family Sinochelyidae (extinct)
Testudinoidea
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Testudinidae

Genera

Chersina
Cylindraspis (extinct)
Dipsochelys
Geochelone
Gopherus
Homopus
Indotestudo
Kinixys
Malacochersus
Manouria

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Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz, as he is known in Europe, (October 22 1783-September 18 1840) was a nineteenth-century polymath who led a chaotic life.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1800s  1810s  1820s  - 1830s -  1840s  1850s  1860s
1829 1830 1831 - 1832 - 1833 1834 1835

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Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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genus (plural: genera) is part of the Latinized name for an organism. It is a name which reflects the classification of the organism by grouping it with other closely similar organisms.
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Testudinidae

Genera

Chersina
Cylindraspis (extinct)
Dipsochelys
Geochelone
Gopherus
Homopus
Indotestudo
Kinixys
Malacochersus
Manouria

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North America is a continent [1] in the Earth's northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Anthem
Himno Nacional Mexicano


Capital
(and largest city) Mexico City

Official languages Spanish (
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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in number, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters.
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Herbivory is a form of predation in which an organism known as an herbivore, consumes principally autotrophs[1] such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria.
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G. agassizii

Binomial name
Gopherus agassizii
Cooper, 1863

The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii
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James Graham Cooper (June 19, 1830, New York- July 19, 1902) was an American surgeon and naturalist.

Cooper worked for the California Geological Survey (1860-1874) with Josiah Dwight Whitney, William Henry Brewer and Henry Nicholas Bolander.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1830s  1840s  1850s  - 1860s -  1870s  1880s  1890s
1860 1861 1862 - 1863 - 1864 1865 1866

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State of Texas

Flag of Texas Seal
Nickname(s): Lone Star State
Motto(s): Friendship.
Before Statehood Known as
The Republic of Texas

Official language(s) No official language

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G. berlandieri

Binomial name
Gopherus berlandieri
Agassiz, 1857

Synonyms
Xerobates berlandieri
Agassiz, 1857
Testudo berlandieri
Boulenger, 1889

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Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (May 28 1807—December 14 1873) was a Swiss-American zoologist, glaciologist, and geologist, the husband of educator Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz, and one of the first world-class American scientists.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1820s  1830s  1840s  - 1850s -  1860s  1870s  1880s
1854 1855 1856 - 1857 - 1858 1859 1860

:
Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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Anthem
Himno Nacional Mexicano


Capital
(and largest city) Mexico City

Official languages Spanish (
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G. flavomarginatus

Binomial name
Gopherus flavomarginatus
Legler, 1959

The Bolson Tortoise (Gopherus flavomarginatus), also called the Mexican Giant Tortoise or
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20th century - 21st century
1920s  1930s  1940s  - 1950s -  1960s  1970s  1980s
1956 1957 1958 - 1959 - 1960 1961 1962

Year 1959 (MCMLIX
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