Gopher tortoises have cliques. They're not just hanging out with any with any other female, they're visiting the same ones. The males will go from burrow to burrow and try and get her to come out of her burrow. And this happens all day long. So in south florida, where i'm working right now, they're at least courting all year round.
We're bringing back one shell of an episode with today's encore. What's a tortoise? What's a turtle? Why do they live so dang long? What's up with their junk? Wildlife biologist and testudinologist Amanda Hipps studies gopher tortoises and dishes about turtle nomenclature, cliques, dicks, behavior, burrows, evolution, habitats and more. If you don't dig tortoises yet, you're about to fall deep into a turtle tunnel in love with them.
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Sound editing by Steven Ray Morris & Jarrett Sleeper
Transcripts by Emily White of The Wordary
Website by Kelly R. Dwyer
Theme song by Nick Thorburn