Gopher Tortoise

One of the lesser known nature parks in Venice is the Venetian Waterway Park.  Even though it can be seen from US 41 and the Circus Bridge, getting to the parking lot next to the waterway requires going about a mile out of the way, skirting around the abandoned Venice Circus Arena, and down a “dead end” dirt road.

Side note: It’s worth slowing down to take a quick look at the Venice Circus Arena. It may be gone soon. The Arena was a significant show place for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus from 1962 to 1992. Here they practiced and premiered new shows to largely home crowds before taking their shows on world tour. The 65,000 square foot building is now sadly in severe disrepair and the City of Venice has voted for its demolition. But a small group of avid contributors and entrepreneurs are trying to remake the building into a modern convention center.  See the linked article. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNBZzx9I2TQ   The Flying Trapeze Park to the rear of the arena is still functioning (occasionally) as a school for aspiring high wire aerialists.

Venice Circus Arena

 

Built in the 1990’s, the Venetian Waterway Park is a series of connecting concrete paths along the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Venetian Waterway Trail

The mile long stretch on the west bank, between the Circus Bridge and Caspersen Beach is unique for one reason-Gopher Tortoises! Here, today, I counted 32 Gopher Tortoise burrows in a half of a mile and saw 4 adult tortoises catching morning rays at their burrow entrances.

Tortoise Burrow



Good Morning

The Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus Polyphemus) is a species of land turtle unique to the southeast US.

Side note: All Turtles are reptiles of the order Chelonii characterized by a bony shell that acts as a shield. Tortoises are the land-dwelling family of turtles.  But common usage has allowed turtle to refer to only the aquatic species and tortoise to the land species.

 

The Gopher Tortoise eats primarily vegetation and lives in dome-shaped tunnels it digs into hills of sand or loose packed dirt. These tunnels provide habitat and protection for more than 300 other animal species. For this reason the Gopher Tortoise is known as a keystone species.

Mainly because of habitat destruction, the Gopher Tortoise is classified as “Threatened” by the state of Florida. This means their numbers are declining. But not here. Four years ago, I’d be lucky to see 1 tortoise. Something is allowing them to thrive here. What is it?

The loose pack dirt on these banks is dredging from the canal bottom. Digging burrows in this area must be fairly easy. The southeast face of the bank provides early morning sun warming. The plentiful low shrubs and grasses growing here are ideal food. Predators, mainly raccoons and foxes, eat the eggs, which are laid outside the burrow in the sand. Perhaps the loose pack allows the eggs more protection here. But the main reason for the tortoise’s success here must be the absence of construction and agriculture in the park.

So, once again we see in a semi-urban environment, along a concrete walking trail within sight of busy US Highway 41, this threatened species has been able to thrive. Efforts to set aside protected land are paying off, and in relatively short time.