gopher tortoise vs gopher

gopher tortoise and gopher both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
gopher tortoise	Yes	No	No	No
gopher	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, gopher tortoise and gopher are synonyms defined as:

gopher tortoise and gopher: burrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North America

Other synonyms of gopher tortoise include gopher turtle, Gopherus polypemus.

gopher tortoise (noun)	gopher (noun)
burrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North America	burrowing rodent of the family Geomyidae having large external cheek pouches; of Central America and southwestern North America
	burrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North America
	any of various terrestrial burrowing rodents of Old and New Worlds; often destroy crops
	a zealously energetic person (especially a salesman)