{"id":1949,"date":"2024-01-29T20:27:22","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T01:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mote.org\/species\/gopher-tortoise-gopherus-polyphemus\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T00:01:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T05:01:49","slug":"gopher-tortoise-gopherus-polyphemus","status":"publish","type":"species","link":"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/gopher-tortoise-gopherus-polyphemus\/","title":{"rendered":"Gopher tortoise"},"content":{"rendered":"

This terrestrial turtle has stumpy hind feet and flat, shovel-like forelimbs. Gopher tortoises can range in color from tan and brown to gray. Male gopher turtles have a dip on the lower backs of their shells while females have a flattened shell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13903,"template":"","class_list":["post-1949","species","type-species","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGopher tortoise | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/gopher-tortoise-gopherus-polyphemus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gopher tortoise | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This terrestrial turtle has stumpy hind feet and flat, shovel-like forelimbs. Gopher tortoises can range in color from tan and brown to gray. 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