Gopherus polyphemus · Georgia's State Reptile
Why it matters
The gopher tortoise is a landlord. It digs burrows up to 40 feet long and 10 feet deep — and more than 350 other species shelter in them: indigo snakes, gopher frogs, burrowing owls, and countless insects. Lose the tortoise, and that whole web loses its home.
Meet the tortoise
Named Georgia's official state reptile, the gopher tortoise is one of the few tortoises that digs. Those burrows aren't just a home — they're a shared shelter that keeps entire sandhill communities alive through fire, heat, and cold. Ecologists call it a keystone species: pull it out, and the structure collapses.
It's a slow, patient animal — a plant-eater that grazes on native grasses and low wildflowers, takes about 15 years to reach breeding age, and can live over half a century. That slowness is exactly why it's fragile: a population that disappears doesn't bounce back in a hurry.
Conservation status
The gopher tortoise is state-protected in Georgia and federally threatened across the western part of its range. The core threat is simple: it needs longleaf pine sandhills, and those forests are down to less than 3% of what they once covered. Roads, development, and fragmentation do the rest.
They are not pets. Gopher tortoises are protected — it's illegal to take, keep, or relocate one in Georgia. If you see one crossing a road and it's safe to help, move it to the same side it was already heading and let it go. Never take it home, and never release a pet tortoise into the wild — it spreads a fatal respiratory disease through wild populations.
How you can help
They do the on-the-ground education and rescue work in Georgia. 10% of every Tevazirus order goes straight to them — with a receipt posted publicly, starting with our first order.
Longleaf pine sandhills are the whole game. Support land trusts and controlled-burn conservation that keep these forests alive.
Don't take, keep, or relocate them, and never release a pet tortoise outdoors. The kindest thing is to let them be.
Log tortoise and burrow sightings on citizen-science apps like iNaturalist — real observers help real research.
Carry one, help one
A glowing lithophane keepsake or a pocket-sized species keychain, made to order in recycled PLA right here in Georgia.
10% of every order → the Georgia Reptile Society · a receipt posted publicly, starting with our first order.