Animal+6

=Gopher tortoise=

Diet
The shells of gopher tortoise hatchlings are yellow, but they take on a darker color as they mature. Gopher tortoises are [|herbivores]. They consume a very wide range of plants, but mainly eat broad-leaved grasses, wiregrass, and [|legumes].[|[4]][|[5]] They also eat mushrooms[|[4]], as well as fruits such as gopher apple, [|pawpaw], [|blackberries], and saw palmetto berries.[|[5]] In addition, gopher tortoises eat flowers from the genera //[|Cnidoscolus]// (nettles), //[|Tillandsia]// (Spanish and ball moss), //[|Richardia]//, and //Dyschoriste//.[|[3]] Juvenile tortoises tend to eat more legumes, which are higher in protein, and fewer grasses which are tough. They eat more fibrous plants than mature tortoises.[|[3]] Gopher tortoises have been known to scavenge carrion and eat excrement.[|[6]] As gopher tortoises usually get water from the food they eat, they usually only drink standing water in times of extreme drought.[|[7]]