Talk:Gopher tortoise

untitled

It should be noted that polyphemids will also consume large ammounts of cactus, if it is avaiable. (I have seen this happen personally) Also, during the depression they were reffered to as 'Hoover-Chickens' and were commonly eaten by Floridians. Males tend to be slightly more 'spikey' and yellow on the front of their shell. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 167.93.70.231 (talk • contribs)

You are always welcome to add whatever you think will improve the article. That is the point of a Wiki. WP:BOLD. Just make sure to source added claims, "I've seen it myself" doesn't meet verifiability requirements. -Dawson 15:16, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

The Gopher Tortoise is the state reptile of Georgia (U.S. state). Where can I place that? --74.184.188.59 (talk) 16:21, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

I added it to the intro. Gary (talk) 23:18, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

Changes to the article

I've made some changes to the article. Any feedback? Gary (talk) 23:21, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

Nice changes, Gary. I've added some of my own! LJ (talk) 07:07, 25 December 2021 (UTC)

References

I am moving this post from the main article to the talk page. It comes from an anonymous user. Gary (talk) 00:00, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Here is a perfect example of the problems with Wikipedia. One of the supposed "references" is Gopher Tortoise Services Inc., which is a PRIVATE company! There are numerous peer reviewed articles or articles created by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that could have been used as references, yet an unpublished source with no citations is used instead. Using these types of supposed "references" sets an extremely bad example for anyone attempting to show a position on a topic. What is even more disturbing is that when you click the link To Gopher Tortoise Services Inc., then click "home" on their website they are offering services for a fee. Great, now supposed references are getting free links to advertise their "for fee" services. This is why a private firms opinion is not a suitable reference. It's sad that this is not an uncommon occurrence on Wikipedia. No doubt that these types of unsubstantiated references will continue to occur on Wikepedia further proving it's uselessness.

I disagree strongly that Wikipedia is useless, though this article may not be useful for your purposes, whatever those are. Wikipedia is a work in progress and no one says it's always right or it's perfect. You are welcome to provide references if you would like to help, and I hope you will. I have removed the source that you wrote about, and I have replaced all the citations for it with tags. If an acceptable source for this information cannot be found in a reasonable amount of time, those sentences will be removed.Gary (talk) 00:22, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

UPDATE: I have replaced the source in question with references that appear more reliable. Any feedback is welcome. Gary (talk) 17:33, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

URTD mortality

I have removed the following contribution and correction that was kindly made by an anonymous user. I replaced this with a description of a study relevant to the subject. Gary (talk) 20:25, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

From the article: Relapse often occurs after treatment and URTD is often fatal.

This last sentence regarding URTD being often fatal to gopher tortoises is incorrect. Please see the following text taken from the following citation: MUSHINSKY, H. R., E. D. MCCOY, J. E. BERISH, R. E. ASHTON JR., AND D. S. WILSON. 2006. Gopherus polyphemus – gopher tortoise. Pp. 350-375. In: MEYLAN, P. E. (ed.), Biology and Conservation of Florida Turtles. Chelonian Research Foundation, Lunenburg, MA. "Mortality correlated with URTD has been high in some desert tortoise populations (Jacobson et al., 1991, 1995; Berry, 1997), but little is known about the effect of the disease on gopher tortoise populations (Berish et al., 2000; McLaughlin et al., 2000; Brown et al., 2003)."

There apparently still is not a lot of information on URTD impacts on this species. I added what I could!LJ (talk) 06:10, 25 December 2021 (UTC)

Coprophagia not credible

I've worked with these animals my entire life and never seen them eat carrion or shit. The source for this statement is a lab from South Carolina (despite the page saying "University of Georgia"), which is barely in range of the animals, and there is no citation for this information within the source article.

Are there any reliable sources for this? Maybe something in a journal?

I find it problematic that the same article says, "In Florida, tortoises are found in the panhandle and along the southeastern coast," which is a lazy and absurd description of their range in the state as it excludes key areas such as Lake Wales Ridge while including an entire coast that's not necessarily populated from end to end. This may indicate the quality of the research that went into writing such an "outreach factsheet." The entire document seems designed as a handout for children and if this is the kind of thing that Wikipedia considers a valid source, well, that's pathetic.71.203.186.4 (talk) 04:17, 11 July 2013 (UTC)

I ended up taking this out for now. Here's the text I removed in case someone needs/wants to restore it w/ a better source.LJ (talk) 05:33, 25 December 2021 (UTC)

Gopher tortoises have been known to scavenge carrion and eat excrement.

Update: removing this ref broke some cites. I'll leave the reference in but the corophagia out for now.LJ (talk) 05:59, 25 December 2021 (UTC)

References

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Wiki Education assignment: BSC 4052 Conservation Biology

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 16 January 2023 and 28 April 2023. Further details are available on the course page. Peer reviewers: Marie1224.

— Assignment last updated by Marie1224 (talk) 04:50, 12 March 2023 (UTC)