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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.
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.
Plains pocket gophers prefer deep, sandy, friable soils to facilitate their burrowing lifestyle and their herbivorous diet of plant roots. The local vegetation is less significant than the nature of the soil, and the gophers are found in prairie grasslands, agricultural land, and even urban areas.
The genus Geomys contains 12 extant species of pocket gophers [1] often collectively referred to as the eastern pocket gophers. Like all pocket gophers, members of this genus are fossorial herbivores .
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. Description
The southern pocket gopher (Thomomys umbrinus) is a species of rodent in the family Geomyidae. [2] It is found in Mexico and the United States , usually in high altitude grassland and shrubland. It feeds on plant material and has an extensive burrow above which is a large heap of earth on the surface of the ground.
Biologists estimate that one pocket gopher can move the equivalent of a ton of soil per year, which helped bring beneficial bacteria and fungi that survived the eruption closer to the surface.
Mountain pocket gophers, as others in the genus Thomomys, have small ears, eyes, and fur-lined cheek pouches. They have short legs with large claws on their feet and smooth incisors . Mountain gophers tend to spend a majority of their time underground and are mostly active at night. [ 2 ]