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Show MOUNTAIN TIMES SPECIES OF THE MONTH uinere’s Ne The Pocket Gopher Goes Underground By Pam Poulson Manager of Visitor Education Red Butie Garden oO" late July, a woman sat calmly sipping iced red zinger. She gazed admiringly at the results of her gardening efforts earlier in the year. “In five years,” she thought, “the garden of my new home here on the foothills is going to be the greenest on the block.” Sword-like leaves of 3 dozen gladiolas were beginning to come up. “Red and purple gladiolas will make a fine backdrop to the light lemon of ‘Moonbeam’ Coreopsis.” Oddly, one green sword among the 36 began to quiver. Slight quivering quickly became a bucking sway. Suddenly, before her eyes, the leaf vanished straight into the ground from , 0 er ., a re mon to the sand hills of the states of South Carolina and Georgia, and like that animal also it never appears above the ground....” April 9, 1805, mouth of the Knife River, North Dakota. The pocket gopher’s adaptations to subterranean life are so complete that he rarely needs to come above ground. He has a thickset, tapering body with a short muscular neck, and powerful shoulders. His eyes and ears are tiny. His front feet are larger than his rear and strong, with long, crescent shaped claws. He has large chisel-like orange incisors. His lips close behind the incisors, permitting him to eat without getting soil in his mouth. He has a nearly naked tail with a sensitive tip that is useful when he scurries in reverse. A pocket gopher can run as quickly backwards as for- | Tike hoae Ls Kitchen ¢ Bed « Bath « Gifts ae which it had grown — sucked out of there are about 40 species in the family GEOMYIDAE, literally translated, “earth mouse” in Greek. The most commonly seen in northern Utah is the Northern pocket gopher, or what Meriwether Lewis called the Dakota salamander: “I have observed in many parts of wards, both above and beneath the ground. This ability is facilitated by his hair, which is smooth lying either backward or forward. His common name comes from two large external, fur-lined cheek “pockets,” which open on either side of his mouth and extend back to his shoulders. In these pouches he carries food and nesting material into his burrow and loose dirt out of his burrow. The name “gopher” is from the French gaufre, meaning “honeycomb,” in reference to his incredible network of tunnels, sometimes more than 500 feet long. He rows. constructs two The ones near types the of bur- surface are Handcrafted of heavy guage aluminum, Calphalon has been the choice of professional chefs since the mid60’s. The surface open stock. .in Calphalon’ INS OO stick-resistant is the process which hardness greater result of a creates a than that of stainless steel — thus pro- 1890 Bonanza Drive « Park City ducing a superior cookware. 301234929700 When the ground is free of snow, soil is deposited in fan shaped mounds at the burrow entrance. In winter he stuffs his diggings into tunnels he excavates in the snow. When the snow melts, these dirt cvlinders, known as “eskers,” remain, crisscrossing mountain meadows. Pocket gopher burrowing is beneficial to the development of soil and meadows. vegetation of mountain Burrowing promotes plant growth by breaking up and aerating the soil Huge amounts of soil are moved by these tiny excavators. One study from 1923 estimated that each year pocket gophers in Yosemite Park were turning over 7.2 tons of soil per square mile sight by some mysterious underground force. Although ground squirrels are the most commonly seen and therefore the most commonly suspected culprits of underground thievery in Utah, don’t blame them. The thief is their distant cousin, the pocket gopher (there are no moles in Utah.) Pocket gophers are a group of rodents that are supremely adapted for subterranean existence. Across North and Central America, Place On the other hand, large numbers of pocket gaphers can damage agricultural crops by devouring plants, cutting roots, killing fruit and timber seedlings, breaching irrigation ditches, and altering the lay of the soil so that it is difficult to use farm machinery. Many efforts have been made to control the Northern Pocket Gopher, Open stock is available in over 100 different pieces. population of pocket gophers in agricultural areas The pocket gopher is a solitary and aggressive territorial animal that tolerates another gopher’s company only during the breeding season. Two to six young are born in a grass or fur-lined nest after a 20-day gestation. The female cares for the young alone Babies are weaned after 40 days and are forced to disperse from the nest just two weeks later. The pocket gopher is vegetarian, with most succulent roots, tubers and bulbs, coming from his subterranean surroundings. Rarely, he will venture out to harvest leaves and stems of plants close to the burrow particularly prickly pear cactus. He cuts the plants into short pieces and carries them in his cheek pouches back to his underground storage chambers. The pocket gopher continues his harvesting throughout — the winter., moving freely above the ground through the snow. @ Thomomys talpoides. AKA: Mole (no moles in Utah), potgut (this is the Uinta ground squirrel.) Description: Tapered body. Rich brown or yellowish brown, lighter bellies. Often they match the color of soil. Feet white. Tiny eyes and small rounded ears. Orange incisors protruding when mouth is closed. Front claws long and curved. Total Length: 6 1/2 to 9 1/4 inches. Tail Length: 1 5/8 to 3 inches. Range and distribution: Widely distributed across the northern portion of the western U.S. Throughout the mountains of northern Utah, including the Uintas, Wasatch, Stansburys, Raft Rivers and Wasatch Plateau. Habitat: In soft easily worked soils. From cultivated fields to mountain mead- Ows. the plains and prairies, the work of an used to gather food. The deeper ones function as storage, shelter and nursery. In tunnel construction the entire body works as a unit, as if the gopher Food: Roots of forbs, tubers and bulbs collected subterranially. Leaves and stems of plants close to the burrow. Fondness for prickly pear cactus. Behavior: Solitary, aggressive defenders of territory. Active both day and night throughout the year. Do not hibernate. Do not migrate. animal of which I could never obtain a view, their work resembles that of the common salamander [not an amphibian, but a rodent, probably Geomys were swimming through the soil: cutting through earth and obstacles with incisors, digging with crescent-clawed forepaws, and sweeping dirt back Where to see one: Good Luck! Try mountain meadows in summer. More often, active burrow entrance mounds and plugs and solid mud eskers left over from pinetis, Eastern pocket gopher] under the body with his hind feet. com- PAGE Major predators: Great horned owls, badgers and coyotes. winter are the only trace you'll find. To determine if a burrow is occupied, simply remove the plug and return the next day to see if it replaced. 11 |