A powerful storm, a disoriented group of reptiles, and a remarkable relocation. That’s the story now unfolding at Fort De Soto Park in Florida, where dozens of gopher tortoises have made an unlikely new home after surviving a journey most believed impossible.

Before Hurricane Helene tore through the region in September 2024, just eight gopher tortoises lived at Fort De Soto, a 1,100-acre park near St. Petersburg. After the storm, that number had jumped to at least 84—something park officials only fully realized as the sandy shores began revealing new burrows and unexpected residents, Smithsonian Magazine reports.

Dozens of tortoises survived a two-mile ocean crossing to Fort De Soto Park.

Swept Out to Sea, Carried by a Surge

The journey started on Egmont Key, a small island more than two miles offshore. There, biologists from Eckerd College had been studying gopher tortoise populations for years. They marked individual tortoises with tiny holes in their shells, allowing for easy identification. After the hurricane, Fort De Soto rangers found tortoises bearing these telltale markings, proving that the reptiles had somehow made it across the open water, according to Tampa Bay Times.

“They’re not swimmers. That’s why this was so shocking,” said park ranger Anna Yu. “We’d never seen anything like it.”

Jeffrey Goessling, a biology professor at Eckerd College, explained the likely scenario: The tortoises had been sheltering deep inside their burrows when the storm surge ripped through Egmont Key, carrying away the upper layers of sand—and the animals along with them.

“It speaks to the real force that this hurricane had,” Goessling told Fox13 News.

The tortoises were identified by shell markings from Egmont Key.

Floating to Safety on Debris and Luck

Despite being land-dwellers, gopher tortoises are surprisingly buoyant. Goessling said they may have floated, inflating their lungs to stay at the surface. Others could have clung to rafts of storm debris. However they managed it, many washed ashore at Fort De Soto alive—but dazed.

Rangers first found a few tortoises crawling along the wet sand, some coughing up seawater, others poking at piles of debris. Then more arrived, and more again.

“All I could think about was how it must have felt to be these tortoises during the storm,” Yu told the Tampa Bay Times.

A New Start at Fort De Soto

Some tortoises immediately started digging burrows—many at higher elevations than usual, including one about 30 feet up on the historic fort mound.

“It’s like they knew exactly where to go,” Yu told The Guardian. “They went a little bit higher in hopes of not being drowned out by another storm.”

Others began mating—a clear sign, according to experts, that they are not just surviving, but thriving.

“Being able to mate is a sign of success,” Yu said.

Cameras set up by Eckerd College researchers have recorded the tortoises entering and leaving burrows, exploring, and engaging with their new environment.

Similar tortoise migrations helped shape island populations worldwide.

The Tragic Cost of Displacement

Not every tortoise made it. More than 40 were found dead on the beaches after the storm, scattered among the seaweed and wreckage.

“Mortality is, unfortunately, part of this kind of historical process of living in coastal areas,” Goessling told Fox13 News.

But the survivors, now nicknamed “the Helene tortoises,” represent a rare instance of natural dispersal in action—an event where the forces of nature move species to new locations. Peter Meylan, who began tracking Egmont’s tortoises in 1994, says this kind of relocation may be part of how tortoises have historically spread across the Gulf.

“It probably is part of their success as a group,” he told the Tampa Bay Times.

An Ecological Boost for the Park

Gopher tortoises are keystone species. Their burrows provide shelter for more than 350 other animals—from snakes and frogs to owls. With the sudden population boom at Fort De Soto, rangers are hopeful that other species will benefit, too.

“Everybody in the ecosystem benefits from gopher tortoises being there,” Yu told The Guardian. “We’ll hopefully see an increase in biodiversity in the park.”

That includes the possible return of gopher frogs, which haven’t been seen in the area since 2016. If these new burrows draw them back, it could mean a critical ecological gain sparked by what was almost a disaster.

Against all odds, these tortoises turned disaster into a new beginning.

A Call for Respect and Protection

Now that these threatened tortoises have found unexpected refuge, park staff are reminding the public to give them space. It’s illegal in Florida to disturb gopher tortoises or their burrows. Visitors should keep their distance, drive cautiously through the park, and report any injured animals to wildlife authorities.

Fort De Soto may be a popular beach destination, but it is, above all, a sanctuary.

“People need to remember that we need to keep wildlife wild,” Yu told the Tampa Bay Times.

And now, thanks to the strange currents of nature and survival, it’s also a new home for dozens of resilient travelers.