Texas Tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri)

Texas Tortoise
Photograph by Dawson. Some rights reserved. (view image details)

Texas Tortoise | Gopherus berlandieri photo

Amistad Rec Area, San Pedro Campground road, Val Verde Co, Texas
Photograph by Clinton & Charles Robertson. Some rights reserved. (view image details)

TEXAS TORTOISE FACTS

Description
The Texas Tortoise is an oblong turtle with a flat-topped shell. The carapace is mainly brown, with some yellow or orange markings on the scutes. The underside (plastron) is yellow. The head is wedge-shaped with a pointed snout. The head, legs and tail are yellowish brown. It has yellowish-orange horned scutes on its shell. The legs are strong and sturdy. Males have longer and narrower carapace and a concave plastron.

Other Names
Berlandier's tortoise

Size
length to 21cm

Environment
dry scrub and grasslands.

Food
eats succulent plants, cacti fruit

Breeding
Nesting season is from April to July. The female lays clutch of 2-3 eggs in a hollow in the ground. One or two clutches are laid each year. The young turtles hatch after 88 to 118 days.

Range
range is from south Texas into eastern Mexico where it is found in the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas.

Classification

Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Family:	Testudinidae
Genus:	Gopherus
Species:	berlandieri
Common Name:	Texas Tortoise

Relatives in same Genus
  Desert Tortoise (G. agassizii)
  Bolson Tortoise (G. flavomarginatus)
  Gopher Tortoise (G. polyphemus)

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