Eureka Gopher Tortoise

This painting was so much fun to do, an amazing collector has Gopher Tortoises on their property and they wanted me to do a painting of a Gopher Tortoise for them. The referencing was a blast, I thought I knew a few things about them but after reading all I could find then spending quite a while in their environment with them I came to realize how intriguing they are. The Tortoise in this piece is a female, she is usually larger than males and she lacks the projections on the plastron (Lower Shell) that protrude below the head and are used to joust with other males. The critters use more than one burrow and the height of the burrow is usually just taller than the occupant. The plastron on males is concave and the females is flat for obvious purposes! These critters can also see very well in my experience, they would scurry off when they saw me a quite a distance. They are also a Keystone species, digging burrows that provide a home for themselves and an additional 300 plus other critters, many of which are only found in these burrows. The Scrub Jays are also a species that shares this particular environment with the Tortoises.