This book gives a simple yet in-depth look at the importance of an unassuming and often overlooked animal. Surprisingly, the gopher tortoise significantly affects more than 360 different kinds of animals that depend upon its burrows for shelter, food, or a place to raise young. This is a fascinating look at how one species can affect the fate of many.

At Home With the Gopher Tortoise: The Story of a Keystone Species is an illustrated nature/conservation book for children featuring a unique “keystone” species. With 360 different species of animals dependent on it for survival, the gopher tortoise presents a fascinating study of ecological interdependency. Because the gopher tortoise digs burrows for its dens in parts of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and other Southeastern states of the US, many other species including skunks, birds, frogs, mice and snakes depend on the burrows for their own protection and survival of their young. Even burrowing owls use the gopher tortoise’s burrows to shelter their fledgling owlets. Other insects use the burrows and other birds eat the insects that thrive in the burrows, completing yet more circles of interdependency. Even a bobcat may use a large burrow to hide and cool itself, while birds such as bobwhites, rabbits and lizards also find refuge in the burrows. In the soil loosened by the gopher tortoise’s digging grow plants such as the scrub mint which provides a pleasant fragrance. In this way the life activities of the gopher tortoise provide protective, favorable habitat for a whole spectrum of living creatures who depend upon the continued survival of the gopher tortoise species for survival. At Home with the Gopher Tortoise: The Story of a Keystone Species shows how one humble species can be at the center of a vast web of creatures’ lives. The beautiful detailed illustrations show many of the different animals in their natural settings, enhancing appeal to an audience of children ages 5-9.

Educational without being didactic, this picture book is an engaging introduction to the concept of a keystone species—an animal on which many other species depend. Rothmans’s eye-catching, full-bleed acrylic paintings depict a wide variety of creatures utilizing the gopher tortoise’s burrow. Almost every spread features a beautifully illustrated example of yet another animal, bird, or insect—from skunks to owls to scorpions—that relies on the gopher tortoise’s burrow for shelter, nesting, and protection from predators. Dunphy’s clear text adds additional interesting details (“The loose soil created by the tortoise’s digging is perfect for growing plants”). With a map showing the tortoise’s range of habitat in the southeastern United States and an end not relating that the animal is a threatened species, this attractive book effectively demonstrates the interdependent nature of the animal world.