Mammals · Rodentia · Geomyidae

Plains Pocket Gopher

Geomys bursarius

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The plains pocket gopher is one of the 35 species of pocket gopher, so called after their externally opening, fur-lined cheek pouches. They are burrowing animals, found in grassland and farmland across the Great Plains of North America, from Manitoba to Texas. Pocket gophers are the most highly fossorial rodents found in North America.

Weight

150 g – 350 g

Size

18 cm – 30 cm

Lifespan

5 years

Diet

Herbivore

Feeds mainly on plants.

Activity

Irregular activity

Active at irregular times, by day or night depending on circumstances.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

GrasslandHerbivore Variable activity Solitary Grassland Mammal

3countries 5parks

Fun facts

Its food-carrying pouches are outside the mouth, opening on the cheeks and lined with fur: it can turn them inside out to clean them, just like pockets.
It can close its lips behind its incisors, which lets it gnaw and dig with its teeth without swallowing soil: an anatomical solution found only in burrowing rodents.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)
Habitat & environment: Deep, sandy, well-drained soils of prairie and farmland in central North America
Sexual maturity: 3 months
Gestation / incubation: 51 days
Litter / clutch size: 4

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomys_bursarius