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Heterogeomys are a small genus of rodents commonly known as pocket gophers, though the term applies to all genera within the family Geomyidae. [1] The name pocket gopher was earned for this family because of their fur lined cheek pouches that can be used for carrying food. These pouches can also be turned inside out.
Pocket gophers are solitary outside of the breeding season, aggressively maintaining territories that vary in size depending on the resources available. Males and females may share some burrows and nesting chambers if their territories border each other, but in general, each pocket gopher inhabits its own individual tunnel system.
A long-term controlled study of tunnel excavation by plains pocket gophers found that the rate of tunnel construction ranges from a high of 2,059 cm/week of new tunnels to a low of none over several weeks during the summer. About 30 to 50 m (98 to 164 ft) of tunnels were open at any one time.
Pocket gophers have special visual adaptations to match their extreme and unique subterranean lifestyle. Though the size of their eyes are typical for rodents, the lens is able to transmit light rays that fall into the ultraviolet range.
They will live and roam between 0.008 and 0.012 hectares, with tunnel systems anywhere from 200-2,000 square feet. [3] These gophers prefer there to be vegetation above their tunnels and cause heaps of dirt to rise where they surface. [4] In summer, the gophers tunnel where the groundwater supply is about 4.3 feet below the surface.
Geomys jugossicularis, also known as Hall's pocket gopher and Colorado pocket gopher, is a species of pocket gopher native to the western United States (Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska). [2] Little is known of its behavior or ecology aside from typical behaviors of the other pocket gophers.
Botta's pocket gopher skull and teeth from Elliot 1901. Botta's pocket gopher is a medium-sized gopher, with adults reaching a length of 18 to 27 cm (7.1 to 10.6 in), including a tail of 5 to 6 cm (2.0 to 2.4 in).
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.