Pocket Gophers

Pocket Gophers … There are many Botta’s Pocket Gopher tunnels in the yards of both Picher and Volunteer Canyons. Remember that pocket gophers have fur-line cheek pouches. They fill these with food when they are foraging. You can actually watch a gopher (which several groups have been able to do already this season) rip vegetation and stuff it into its cheeks.

look at those rodent teeth gathering fillearee and stuffing it into its cheek pouches

Look for piles of freshly turned earth and watch awhile. Our gopher is Botta's pocket gopher (Thomomys bottae), whose range extends from California east to Texas and from southern Utah and Colorado south to Mexico. Californians also call it the valley pocket gopher. At least 185 subspecies have been described, mostly on the basis of geographical distribution.

Botta (or bottae) honors Italian Paolo Emilio Botta, a 19th century naturalist, who visited California in 1827 on a collecting expedition for the Museum of Natural History of Paris. He is also known to have discovered the Assyrian ruins of Ninevah. The generic epithet "Thomomys" comes from the Greek thomos, meaning heap, and mys or mouse. Gopher is derived from the French word gaufre, for honeycomb, a reference to the animal’s subterranean network.

Their burrows may reach lengths of more than 500 feet. One study in Utah estimated that a single gopher moved as much as 1 ton of soil per year! A typical burrow will resemble a complicated subway system with numerous forks including side branches used for larders, garbage dumps and latrines, nesting and nurseries. Deepest parts of the tunnel system are between one and three yards underground. Gophers block tunnel entrances with dirt, to prevent predator entry.

Pocket Gophers page 1 Pocket Gophers

Strong claws, forelegs, and chisel teeth equip gophers for a life of burrowing. In hard soils they literally gnaw their way through the ground. Their incisors (those big front teeth) remain outside their mouths even when their lips are closed. What might be the benefit of this? (It keeps dirt out of their mouths while they are digging.) This is where fur-lined cheek pouches come in as well… gophers can store food in their pouches and still chew through the soil. After a gopher has loosened enough soil, it turns and pushes it back along the tunnel with its chin and chest, like a miniature bulldozer. Thn it turns around and shoves the dirt up to the surface and to the side of the opening (this is what we’ve been watching). Gophers have a sensitive tail that facilitates rapid reversal, when necessary.

Pocket gophers are strictly herbivorous, and feed in three ways: 1) on roots they encounter when digging; 2) at the surface, venturing only a body length or so from their tunnel opening to feed on aboveground vegetation; and 3) by pulling vegetation into their tunnel from below. They usually consume food in the safety of their burrow, where they spend 90% of their life.

Gophers are solitary, territorial and pugnacious except during breeding season in spring. Males, are thought to go in search of females, and are probably polygamous. After the male and female hook-up, one to seven hairless, blind young are born 19 days later. They disperse in late summer, hoping to avoid predation. Females can mate more than once per year.

Main predators include badgers, coyotes, weasels, and snakes, but other predators include skunks, owls, bobcats, and hawks. Gophers are predated and caught at their burrow entrance by most predators, however weasels and snakes can enter gopher burrows to hunt. We know that herons can also make a dent in gopher populations. (Watch for the Great Blue Heron hunting in Volunteer Canyon!)

Pocket gophers are considered pests in urban and agricultural areas due to their burrowing habit and their taste for alfalfa. They are also considered beneficial because their burrows are a key source of soil aeration.

Folks have been asking what’s the difference between moles and gophers. Moles are in the Order Insectivora. They are pretty much strict “meat” eaters. Gophers are in the Order Rodentia and are vegetarians. Gophers have classic rodent incisors. You can tell the difference in the mounds as well …

Pocket Gophers page 2 Pocket Gophers

 pocket gopher: notice the incisors with the large gap behind them.

broad-footed mole:  you can see how very different mole teeth are from gopher teeth

Check out the great pocket gopher skin that Anna-Marie has provided for us in the Rainy Day Room!! You can show the kids! (and look at the date it was collected.)

Pocket Gophers page 3