Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Northern pocket gopher
Species of mammal From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
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.
Remove ads
Remove ads
Description
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).[citation needed]
Habitat
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.[2]
Remove ads
Interactions
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 in soluble amino acids, carbohydrates, chemicals, which causes the plants to be more vulnerable to parasites, predation, and diseases.[3]
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads