While I was out exploring earlier this week I spotted an odd lump on the road. At first I dismissed it as a pinecone but that didn’t seem quite right as I drove by. So I backed up to get a closer look.

That brownish lump turned out to be the smallest Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) I’ve ever seen. Knowing that they are a threatened species here in Florida (mainly due to habitat loss), I decided to help the little one out.

I certainly didn’t want a careless driver to run it over so I gently picked it up off the hot asphalt.* I carried it off the roadway, following the direction it had been pointed in. While the tortoise remained tightly tucked in during the transfer process, once on the ground it didn’t take long for the legs and head to emerge. Within seconds the wee one was walking into the nearby grassland.

Having noted a bite mark on its shell, I wished it well on its journey before continuing on mine. Good luck, little dude!

* I grew up in the Sonoran Desert with a very similar species, the Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), so I am acquainted with the protocol for carefully moving these creatures.