BULLETIN FLORIDA MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY VOL. 38 PT. 11(9)


Gottschang 1977; Endres and Smith 1993). As in this study, on an island in a lake
in central Tennessee, females used tree cavities more than males, especially during
the summer, when they were used as maternal dens (Endres and Smith 1993).
Juvenile males on the island preferred ground dens during every season.
 The overwhelming use of trees for rest sites in this study may have been due
to less need for protection from harsh weather than in other areas, lower
availability of other types of rest sites, and the fact that only adults were radio-
collared. Reasons proposed for extensive use of tree rest sites in a study in the
south-Florida scrub (Worley 1980), that sites high above the ground were cooler
because of less reradiation and more air movement, that there were fewer insect
pests in sites high in the trees, and that these sites afforded protection from ground
predators and increased range of visual surveillance, are also possibilities. The
Florida scrub study provided year-round data, though, and this study was
conducted only in the winter and spring, mostly during the coolest months of the
year, so escape from the heat probably was not a major factor.


 Raccoon Use of Critical Gopher Tortoise Habitat


 The sandhills where gopher tortoises live are not the preferred habitat of the
Ordway raccoons. Most raccoons used this habitat type less than expected based
on availability. This could be due to the lower productivity of the habitat
(Humphrey et al. 1985), which may result in less food available or to less
protection and cover available. The latter explanation is supported by the fact that
the sandhills were used more for foraging by raccoons than for resting, and that
males, which used less-protected rest sites, used the sandhills more than females.
 A very large proportion of the raccoon locations in the sandhills was
attributable to a small proportion of the raccoons. Although no raccoon was
located in the sandhills a majority of the time, two males (#16 and 24) were located
there more often than in any other habitat type. These two males accounted for
one-third of the sandhill locations. Along with one other male (#33) and three
females (#4, 25, and 29), they accounted for two-thirds of the locations in the
sandhills. Most of the remainder of the locations in that habitat seemed to be
occasional foraging forays by individuals who lived mainly in the swamp and
hammock interspersed with the sandhills.
 Removal of raccoons has been demonstrated to enhance hatchling yield
among turtles in Iowa (Christiansen and Gallaway 1984). More research on the
extent of raccoon predation on gopher tortoises at the Ordway is needed in order to
determine if removal of the small number of raccoons that frequent the sandhills
on a regular basis may decrease predation on gopher tortoises. Because it is often
difficult to determine what predator is responsible for a raided nest or the death of


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