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Gophers are little , furred rodents that burrow tunnels through yard of North America and Central America . Their full name is pocket gopher because they have external fur - line cheek pouches , or pocket .
The pocket go all the way back to its shoulder and are used to express food from one emplacement to another . Gophers can even twist their sac cheeks inside out , according to theAnimal Diversity Web(ADW ) .
The Northern pocket gopher seldom appears above ground; when it does, it rarely ventures more than a few feet.
Size
Gophers are intermediate - sized rodent . They are larger than mouse , but typically smaller than informer at around 5 to 14 inches ( 12.7 to 35.5 cm ) long . They weigh a few hundred grams ( 1 lb . or more ) . A few species of cardinal American gopher reach almost 1 kilogram ( 2.2 lb . ) .
Gophers also have four magnanimous incisor , which continue to grow throughout the gopher ’s life . Gophers can close up their lips behind them ; this retain the dirt out while they dig .
A gopher ’s stalwart body is build up for digging . They have small ears and eyes , and no distinct cervix . Their legs are short and powerful end , and their panoptic feet have large nipper .
A gopher emerges from its burrow.
Habitat
Gophers are found in North and Central America , preferably in areas with loose , sandy soil . They make their homes in burrows that consist of many tunnels .
These tunnels have various uses , depending on their size of it . Shallow tunnels are used for foraging and deep tunnel are used for nesting , solid food memory and latrines , according to the ADW . Tunnels can touch 200 to 2,000 hearty metrical unit ( 61 to 610 straight meters ) , with the nest and solid food storage chamber up to 6 f ( 1.8 m ) deep .
It is easy to tell where a gopher ’s place is . They push dirt to the surface as they dig , which produce foresightful mounds on the surface .
Habits
gopher are active during the day and are fossorial , which entail they live most of their lives underground . They eat , forage , sleep and have their babies underground .
They do all of this alone , though . Gophers are not social creature , at least with their own sort . Often , gophers will portion out their burrow with other creatures .
Gophers are active all yr long and do n’t hole up .
Diet
gopher are herbivores , which mean they eat flora . Though they eat the crest of plants sometimes , they are mostly interested in the root and tubers of the plant .
When they eat top - side , the gopher tortoise will poke itself out of a " feed hole " just enough to grab a nearby plant . Then , they force the full works into their burrow or nibble off some of the botany before popping back into their hole .
Offspring
goffer get through intimate maturity about 1 year of years . How many baby a female gopher tortoise has each year depends on how much water the area where she exist gets . In non - irrigated area , females will have one litter per year ; in irrigated area , females may have up to three litters per twelvemonth , according to theUniversity of California . Each bedding material typically has five to six new and a pregnancy full stop of around a calendar month . Baby ground squirrel are called pups .
The female parent stay with her pups only for a few week ; after that , she place them out of the tunnel . As presently as the young are out on their own , they progress their own burrow . They will be up to 3 old age .
Classification/taxonomy
Here is the taxonomy for pocket gopher , accord to theIntegrated Taxonomic Information System(ITIS ) and the ADW :
Kingdom : AnimaliaSubkingdom : BilateriaInfrakingdom : DeuterostomiaPhylum : ChordataSubphylum : VertebrataInfraphylum : GnathostomataSuperclass : TetrapodaClass : MammaliaSubclass : TheriaInfraclass : EutheriaOrder : RodentiaSuborder : CastorimorphaFamily : GeomyidaeGenera :
Conservation status
Most Gopherus polypemus are listed as least business organization by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resource ’s Red List of Threatened Species . There are some exclusion , though . TheMichoacan pocket gopheris listed as endangered and thebig pocket gopherand thetropical pocket gopherare listed as critically imperil , while thedesert pocket gopheris listed as near threatened . These species are in particular trouble because their populations are decreasing or their habitats are split or very small .
Other facts
Because they care to tunnel under gardens , Gopher are considered pesterer in some areas .
The evolutionary history of pocket gophers is ground on fossils found in North American that are 33.7 million to 28.5 million years old , according toEncyclopedia Britannica .
gopher have matted torso that make it easygoing for them to squeeze through their burrow .
extra resources
