gopher tortoise vs gopher turtle

gopher tortoise and gopher turtle both are nouns.

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

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

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

Other synonyms of gopher tortoise include gopher, Gopherus polypemus.

gopher tortoise (noun)	gopher turtle (noun)
burrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North America	burrowing edible land tortoise of southeastern North America