IQl6 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 7 



Concerning the Pocket Gopher and Destructive Habits 



By Theo. H. Scheffer, Assistant Biologist U. S. Biological Survey 



THE pocket gopher is an animal of 

 wide distiiijution in tlie United 

 States, being found almost any- 

 wliere west of the lower course of the 

 Mississippi River and the eastern bor- 

 der of its valley in the upper course. 

 There is also an isolated group of these 

 animals in parts of three states on our 

 southeast coast. The small ground 

 squirrels of the prairies and the true 

 moles arc sometimes locally known as 

 "gophers." 



The gopher burrows in the soil of 

 wild lands and cultivated fields, con- 

 structing a labyrinth of tunnels that 

 have no permanent exits above ground. 

 The work of extending these runways 

 is usually done at night or in the early 

 morning and late evening, when, at in- 

 tervals, the busy little animal dumps 

 on the surface of the field the loads of 

 earth it has brought up, through short 

 lateral gangways, from its excavations 

 below. These accumulations of soil 

 soon assume the proportions of con- 

 spicuous mounds ranging in bulk from 



a few quarts to more than a bushel of 

 dirt. Some of the Pacific Coast moles 

 heap up similar mounds, but a little 

 study of detail will enable the observer 

 to readily distinguish them from those 

 constructed by the pocket gopher. The 

 former are built up, volcano fashion, 

 by successive ujjheavals beneath and 

 through the center of the mound, the 

 earth, if not too dry, falling down the 

 slopes in the form of the plugs that 

 were forced up from the tunnel as 

 through a crater tube. The earth 

 mounds of the gopher, on the other 

 hand, are more or less semi-circular 

 or fan shaped in outline, with the 

 plugged opening through which the 

 dirt has been carried out, on one side. 

 In the construction of these mounds 

 each successive load of earth was piled 

 on top of the one previously brought 

 out, or to the right or left of it. Asso- 

 ciated with the mounds built by the 

 mole there may be upridgings of the 

 sod or soil crust where the little ani- 

 mal has plowed along just beneath the 



A very efTicient and simple trap for pocket sophers. 



Tlie "Ring*' type of trap, with banti steel The "Box" type of gopher trap. 



spring. 



s 



^ 



Prods used in locating and effecting entrance into tlie nndergronnd rvniways of tlie gopher. 



surface in search of food. The run- 

 ways of the gopher are all too deep 

 down to produce such ridges. 



The gopher is not a prolific breeder. 

 It rears young but once a year — in the 

 early spring of our temperate latitudes. 

 The number of young at a birth will 

 average four or five. They grow and 

 develop fairly rapidly and by fall are 

 scattering out anti digging runways for 

 themselves. 



The natural food of the pocket go- 

 pher consists mainly of the roots and 

 undergrouiul stems of the plants grow- 

 ing wild in its habitat. The search for 

 these results in the long and devious 

 windings of the gopher tunnels we find 

 in our fields. Stems and leaves of cer- 

 tain plants are also cut off above 

 ground and pulled down into the bur- 

 rows to serve as food. In some parts 

 of the country, at least, considerable 

 quantities of root sections are stored 

 in underground chambers connected 

 with the tunnels. These are usually 

 for winter use, though there may be 

 other times when stores are drawn 

 upon because of temporary food 

 scarcity. 



With the cultivation of the soil by 

 man has come the substitution of vari- 

 ous edible roots and tubers for those 

 of the original wild plants destroyed 

 b\ the plow-. These new supplies being 

 usually more abundant and constant 

 than formerly, the gopher has found 

 conditions of life easy and as a result 

 has, in recent years, greatly increased 

 in numbers in some agricultural dis- 

 tricts. Following this increase such 

 crops as alfalfa, clover, potatoes and 

 garden truck have suffered much from 

 attacks on their root systems and from 

 llie presence of the mounds, which 

 cover up jjarts of the cro])s and inter- 

 fere with harvesting. 



Much damage has been done to young 

 orchards by the pocket gopher. In- 

 stances might be cited where entire 

 acreages of considerable extent have 

 sutl'cred the loss of almost every tree 

 as a result of the roots being gnawed 

 off. Nursery stock in the field is also 

 at times seriously damaged in a similar 

 way. In the irrigated fruit disti'icts, 

 too, the tunnels of the gopher pene- 

 trate the ditch banks, causing waste of 

 water and often serious breaks and 

 washouts when the smaller leak has 

 not been discovered in time to stoj) the 

 outflow. 



■MI thid is re(|uircd lo keep tlie go- 

 |)her situation in liaiid in any com- 

 munity is a well-directed campaign of 

 [)oisoning or trapping at the start, fol- 

 lowed by reasonable vigilance and co- 

 operation with neighbdis. The animals 

 arc easily trapped, and will take cer- 

 tain poisoned baits in a manner that 

 indicates the possession of liltle 

 shrewdness or cimning in scenting out 

 danger along this line. Poisoning an I 

 trapping may be f<dlowed successfully 

 at any time when the go|)hcrs a'c 

 active in Ihrowing up fresh moim \%, a 



