Northern Pocket Gopher

About the Northern Pocket Gopher

The northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) is a small gopher species native to the western United States and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Manitoba. Northern pocket gophers have long rich brown to yellowish brown fur, paler below, with a black patch behind the ear. They weigh 60 to 160 grams (2.1 to 5.6 oz).

Their habitat consists usually of good soil in meadows or along streams; most often in mountains, but also in lowlands. Northern pocket gophers rarely appear above ground; when they do, they rarely venture more than 2.5 feet (0.76 m) from a burrow entrance. Underground, however, they often have tunnels that extend hundreds of feet where they live, store food, and give birth to their young.

According to an article published in the Journal of Mammalogy, there are both positive and negative impacts of burrowing by pocket gophers on the organisms around them. Burrowing and grazing have an impact on the plants and the herbivores that consume these plants, even though gophers do not directly interact with the insects in their habitats. Changes in the plants' composition can cause an increase... Wikipedia →