{"id":9840,"date":"2012-03-10T13:30:29","date_gmt":"2012-03-10T18:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=9840"},"modified":"2012-03-10T13:30:29","modified_gmt":"2012-03-10T18:30:29","slug":"resort-turtles-of-the-gulf-coast-battle-extinction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=9840","title":{"rendered":"Resort Turtles of the Gulf Coast Battle Extinction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"021<\/a><\/p>\n

Gopher Tortoise Surveys Vanderbilt Beach<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus<\/em>) along the Gulf Coast of Naples, Florida occupy some of the richest, most coveted terrain in the world.\u00c2\u00a0 Digging burrows in the shadow of towering waterfront highrises, Vanderbilt Beach tortoises live on the jagged edge of luxury and extinction.\u00c2\u00a0 No matter how loudly humans declare fascination with exotic wildlife, they can’t seem to tolerate neighbors that restrict unbridled development of every inch of shoreline.<\/p>\n

\"063<\/a><\/p>\n

Vanderbilt Beach at Sunrise<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A late February morning finds Turtle Journal catching the sunrise on Vanderbilt beach in Naples as we explore Gulf Coast fauna and check out the few remaining tortoise burrows wedged precariously between luxury condo skyscrapers.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"029<\/a><\/p>\n

Gopher Tortoise Competing for Ritzy Domain<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Recognizing a kindred spirit, a male golpher tortoise strolls out to meet the Turtle Journal team.\u00c2\u00a0 Near 80-degree warmth has\u00c2\u00a0piqued his interest in exploring\u00c2\u00a0his surroundings for food and … of course … love.\u00c2\u00a0 As burrows\u00c2\u00a0are displaced by development,\u00c2\u00a0the challenge of finding a\u00c2\u00a0mate\u00c2\u00a0grows more difficult.\u00c2\u00a0 As the human urge to “control” and “neaten” natural vegetation around the burrows, foraging too becomes more difficult.<\/p>\n

\"030<\/a><\/p>\n

Male Gopher Tortoise<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This young healthy male measured about 12 inches long …<\/p>\n

\"016<\/a><\/p>\n

Male Gopher Tortoise Carapace<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

… from nuchal at the tip of\u00c2\u00a0his domed carapace to the rear.\u00c2\u00a0 A few, maybe ten,\u00c2\u00a0annual growth\u00c2\u00a0rings can still be discerned in\u00c2\u00a0his costal scutes, but most annuli\u00c2\u00a0have been obscured by wear and tear.<\/p>\n

\"022<\/a><\/p>\n

Male Gopher Tortoise Plastron<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The maleness of a gopher tortoise can be identified by concavity … hard to verify in the above two-dimensional photograph … in the center posterior of\u00c2\u00a0his plastron and by the gular protrusion at the plastron anterior under his chin.<\/p>\n

\"008<\/a><\/p>\n

Humans Remove “Invasive” Vegetation\u00c2\u00a0around Burrows<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

During Turtle Journal’s February 2012 inspection of\u00c2\u00a0Vanderbilt habitat, we noticed that people had begun to clear vegetation from around these tortoise burrows.\u00c2\u00a0 When asked what they were doing, workers said that they were removing “invasive” vegetation.\u00c2\u00a0 While we can’t and don’t dispute this claim, the clearing did\u00c2\u00a0seem more global than targeted against specific species.\u00c2\u00a0 We wonder how tortoises will fare on these largely denuded sites and hope that seasonal growth will quickly\u00c2\u00a0restore forage.<\/p>\n

\"017<\/a><\/p>\n

Tortoise Disturbed Crossing Beach “Highway”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Another challenge confronting these gentle reptiles on the Gulf Coast is the constant vehicular traffic along the luxury beachfront.\u00c2\u00a0 Whether “sweeping” sandy beaches clear of natural wrack each morning or simply racing up and down Vanderbilt Beach in a frentic effort to emulate Indy car drivers, humans disturb roaming tortoises with motion, noise and tire ruts.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\"gtvb<\/a><\/p>\n

Vanderbilt Beach Gopher Tortoise<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Turtle Journal cherishes its visit with Florida’s gopher tortoises each winter and hopes that these humble reptiles can survive the\u00c2\u00a0insatiable\u00c2\u00a0human appetite\u00c2\u00a0to monopolize the Gulf Coast beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gopher Tortoise Surveys Vanderbilt Beach Gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) along the Gulf Coast of Naples, Florida occupy some of the richest, most coveted terrain in the world.\u00c2\u00a0 Digging burrows in the shadow of towering waterfront highrises, Vanderbilt Beach tortoises live on the jagged edge of luxury and extinction.\u00c2\u00a0 No matter how loudly humans declare fascination […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9840"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9840"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9884,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9840\/revisions\/9884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}