While tucked away in her South Florida burrow, Grumpy Gertrude is ready to ram anyone who approaches too closely—including the biologists who study her.
The 14-year-old gopher tortoise is a favorite of Amanda Hipps, a graduate student at Florida Atlantic University who studies these (mostly) gentle and long-lived reptiles.
"Most of the tortoises are pretty shy and skittish, but not Gertrude," says Hipps. If someone approaches Gertrude's underground home she often begins to head-bob—a telltale sign of tortoise aggression—before charging forward and possibly ramming your shoes, she says. (Learn how to tell a turtle from a tortoise.)
The reptile's feisty personality makes her a good representative for her species, which has declined due to habitat loss, disease, poaching,
