| Mountain pocket gopher | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Geomyidae |
| Genus: | Thomomys |
| Species: | T. monticola |
| Binomial name | |
| Thomomys monticola J. A. Allen, 1893 | |
The mountain pocket gopher (Thomomys monticola) is a species of rodent in the family Geomyidae. It is endemic to California and Nevada. [1] The Sierra Nevada are part of its range.
Mountain pocket gophers, as others in the genus Thomomys, have small ears, eyes, and fur-lined cheek pouches. They have short legs with large claws on their feet and smooth incisors. Mountain gophers tend to spend a majority of their time underground and are mostly active at night. [2] They are about 27 centimeters long and 91 grams [3] with brown or gray fur.
The mountain pocket gopher naturally occurs on the edges of mountain meadows, wet meadows, and coastal prairies. [4] Also dwelling in upward slopes of forests such as pine and fir, they create complicated tunnel systems in the friable soil of these forest floors. They will live and roam between 0.008 and 0.012 hectares, with tunnel systems anywhere from 200-2,000 square feet. [3] These gophers prefer there to be vegetation above their tunnels and cause heaps of dirt to rise where they surface. [4]
In summer, the gophers tunnel where the groundwater supply is about 4.3 feet below the surface. In winter, to avoid freezing, they will move higher to station underneath trees. [5] When there are thick sheets of snow, mountain gophers will push cylinders of dirt from their burrows outward, leaving several above ground. [6]
The mountain pocket gopher does not need water in its diet to survive, but instead extracts all its water from the food it consumes. [5] They are herbivores whose primary food sources are forbs including whitethorn caenothus and gooseberry. They also have a preference towards lupine. [7] Mountain pocket gophers will consume the roots and bulbs of these plants underground and store them in their tunnels. [4] Pocket gophers rarely go aboveground to feed. [5]
Typically the mountain pocket gopher mates during late spring and summer from May to July. They are mostly solitary other than mating. These gophers mate once a year in an underground nest and carry three to four in their litter. [4]
The North American water vole or just water vole is the largest North American vole. It is found in the northwestern United States and southern parts of western Canada. This animal has been historically considered a member of genus Arvicola, but molecular evidence demonstrates that it is more closely related to North American Microtus species. Water voles are on the USDA Forest Service Region 2 sensitive species list because they maintain very small populations and there is high concern that their required habitat may be declining.
The northern pocket gopher is a small gopher species native to the western United States and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Manitoba.
Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 species are all endemic to North and Central America. They are commonly known for their extensive tunneling activities and their ability to destroy farms and gardens.
The smooth-toothed pocket gophers, genus Thomomys, are so called because they are among the only pocket gophers without grooves on their incisors. They are also called the western pocket gophers because they are distributed in western North America. They are considered distinct enough from other pocket gophers to be recognized as a separate subfamily or tribe.
The Mazama pocket gopher is a smooth-toothed pocket gopher restricted to the Pacific Northwest. The herbivorous species ranges from coastal Washington, through Oregon, and into north-central California. Four subspecies of the Mazama Pocket Gopher are classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, including T. m. pugetensis, T. m. tumuli , T. m. glacialis, and T. m. yelmensis. The Mazama Pocket Gopher is one of the smallest of 35 species in the pocket gopher family.
Botta's pocket gopher is a pocket gopher native to western North America. It is also known in some areas as valley pocket gopher, particularly in California. Both the specific and common names of this species honor Paul-Émile Botta, a naturalist and archaeologist who collected mammals in California in 1827 and 1828.
The beach vole or Muskeget vole is a rodent in the family Cricetidae. This close relative of the eastern meadow vole is endemic to the 0.87 km2 Muskeget Island, Massachusetts. Due to its relatively short period of reproductive isolation, there is debate over the beach vole's designation as a subspecies of M. pennsylvanicus.
Blyth's vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It was previously the only species in the genus Phaiomys, but was moved to Neodon in 2016. It is found in mountainous regions in northern India, Nepal and China. It is a burrowing rodent and lives in small colonies. It has a wide distribution and faces no particular threats so the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".
The plains pocket gopher is one of 35 species of pocket gophers, so named in reference to their externally located, fur-lined cheek pouches. They are burrowing animals, found in grasslands and agricultural land across the Great Plains of North America, from Manitoba to Texas. Pocket gophers are the most highly fossorial rodents found in North America.
Heterogeomys is a genus of rodent in the family Geomyidae, found in Mexico, Central America and Colombia. Heterogeomys are a small genus of rodents commonly known as pocket gophers, though the term applies to all genera within the family Geomyidae. The name pocket gopher was earned for this family because of their fur lined cheek pouches that can be used for carrying food. These pouches can also be turned inside out. Species of Heterogeomys are regarded as pests, one of less than 5% of rodent species classified as pests, and the history of man's attempts to control their populations reaches back into Mayan times. Despite some efforts to the contrary, populations of Heterogeomys seem to be on a general upwards trend. Furthermore, all of the species of Heterogeomys are considered to be of Least Concern in the World Status Key.
The camas pocket gopher, also known as the camas rat or Willamette Valley gopher, is a rodent, the largest member in the genus Thomomys, of the family Geomyidae. First described in 1829, it is endemic to the Willamette Valley of northwestern Oregon in the United States. The herbivorous gopher forages for vegetable and plant matter, which it collects in large, fur-lined, external cheek pouches. Surplus food is hoarded in an extensive system of tunnels. The dull-brown-to-lead-gray coat changes color and texture over the year. The mammal's characteristically large, protuberant incisors are well adapted for use in tunnel construction, particularly in the hard clay soils of the Willamette Valley. The gophers make chattering sounds with their teeth; males and females make purring sounds when they are together, and the young make twittering sounds. Born toothless, blind and hairless, the young grow rapidly before being weaned at about six weeks of age.
The Wyoming pocket gopher is a species of gopher that is endemic to the United States. Between 1915 and 1979, it was generally considered to be a subspecies of the northern pocket gopher.
The Idaho pocket gopher is a species of rodent in the family Geomyidae. It is rather small, with a lightly built skull. Its fur color varies through the body and between individuals. Found in the western United States, it inhabits savannas, shrubland, and grasslands. Individuals live alone in burrows, staying active year-round. Many aspects of its behavior and biology are not well understood. The species is classified as being of least-concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Townsend's pocket gopher is a species of pocket gopher endemic to the northwestern United States.
The southern pocket gopher is a species of rodent in the family Geomyidae. It is found in Mexico and the United States, usually in high altitude grassland and shrubland. It feeds on plant material and has an extensive burrow above which is a large heap of earth on the surface of the ground.
Baird's pocket gopher or the Louisiana pocket gopher is a species of pocket gopher that is native to the southern United States. In total, there are three almost identical species of eastern pocket gopher; Geomys attwateri, G. bursarius, and G. breviceps. G. breviceps is larger in size, G. attwateri is medium-sized and G. bursarius is a bit smaller. Other than by size variation they are not identifiable by external features. Baird's pocket gophers are small rodents with most of their weight on the top half of their bodies.
The California myotis is a species of vesper bat. It is found in British Columbia in Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, and in the western United States, including California.
The Pacific marten is a species of North American mammal, a member of the family Mustelidae. It is found throughout western North America.
The western meadow vole is a species of North American vole found in midwestern and western Canada and the United States, and formerly in Mexico. It was formerly considered conspecific with the eastern meadow vole, but genetic studies indicate that it is a distinct species.
