Pocket gophers are burrowing rodents, well-adapted for an underground lifestyle. They possess powerful forequarters, large claws, and specialized teeth for gnawing. These physical attributes enable them to thrive where they find most of their sustenance, primarily consuming plant material.
Underground Delights
Pocket gophers primarily consume underground plant parts, utilizing their extensive tunnel systems to access food. Their main tunnels typically lie four to eighteen inches below the surface, serving as pathways to various food sources. Deeper tunnels, often two to six feet deep, lead to dens and food storage chambers.
Their diet includes roots, tubers, bulbs, and rhizomes. They commonly feed on the fleshy roots of herbaceous plants, such as alfalfa and dandelions. Other examples of their underground diet include carrots, potatoes, and the roots of trees and shrubs. Their specialized incisor teeth, which grow continuously, allow them to gnaw and clip vegetation without ingesting soil, as their lips can close behind these teeth. This adaptation allows them to efficiently forage within their tunnels.
Occasional Surface Foraging
While pocket gophers spend nearly 95 percent of their time underground, they do occasionally venture to the surface for food. When foraging above ground, they typically remain within a body length of their tunnel opening to quickly retreat if threatened. They may pull entire plants or parts, such as stems, leaves, grasses, and seeds, into their burrows.
This surface activity is less common than their underground foraging but can occur, especially when underground food sources become scarce or during specific seasons like spring and fall. For instance, they might clip the stems of young trees and shrubs, particularly in winter. Pocket gophers may incidentally ingest small insects or earthworms during their foraging, though this is not a significant part of their diet.
Storing Their Meals
Pocket gophers store excess food, a strategy that helps them survive periods when fresh vegetation is less available. They use their fur-lined external cheek pouches to transport food back to their burrows. These pouches, which can be turned inside out for cleaning, allow them to carry significant amounts of roots, tubers, and other plant materials.
Once transported, the food is stored in dedicated food chambers within their complex burrow systems. These underground caches can be found in deeper tunnels, sometimes as deep as six feet below the surface. This storage habit is important for sustaining them through less productive times, such as during winter or dry seasons when the ground might be frozen or vegetation sparse.