Northern pocket gopher facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Northern pocket gopher |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Thomomys
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| Species: |
talpoides
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| Subspecies | |
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T. t. aequalidens |
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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
Northern gophers are often rich brown or yellowish brown, but also grayish or closely approaching local soil color and have white markings under the chin. They also weigh less than a quarter of a pound (110 grams).
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 from a burrow entrance. Underground, however, they often have tunnels that extend hundreds of feet where they live, store food, and mate.
