The world’s largest gopher tortoise has died from wounds suffered when he was crushed on a Fort Myers construction site last April 2007.

“Phoenix” weighed 26.45 pounds – after four weeks of no solid food and artificial hydration. His upper shell measured 16.41 inches. The previous record was 15.24 inches. Age is difficult to determine in tortoises, but one expert estimated that Phoenix was between 50 and 100 years old.

Phoenix earned his nickname when a Fort Myers construction worker buried the tortoise after he was crushed, likely by a backhoe. Several days later someone saw the badly injured tortoise emerge from the grave and took him to a wildlife rehabilitator in Okeechobee. The tortoise lived nearly two weeks, but attempts to heal his wounds were not successful.

The wildlife rehabilitator, Amanda Elfenback, brought Phoenix to Ray Ashton, of the Gopher Tortoise Conservation Initiative in Gainesville, where the tortoise was studied further and measurements were documented.

The construction was apparently conducted without a permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. But the FWC allows thousands of gopher tortoises to be crushed on construction sites each year. Lee County is among a handful of counties that prohibit developers from entombing live tortoises.

The carcass was turned over to Peter Pritchard to be placed in his Chelonian Museum.