CONTROL OF THE POCKET GOPHER 

 IN CALIFORNIA 



By JOSEPH DIXON* 



The damage done by the pocket gopher in California is estimated 

 at eight million dollars a year. The depredations by this rodent are 

 locally numerous, extend over nearly the entire state, and go on all the 

 year. The losses, taken one by one, may be trivial, but in the aggregate 

 they are formidable. 



FEATUEES OF THE POCKET GOPHER 



Because most of the gopher 's work is done in the dark, either under- 

 ground or at night, the disastrous results of the animal's activities are 

 better known to most people than is the animal itself. The pocket 

 gopher is a small, chunky, short-legged, burrowing rodent, with large 

 protruding front teeth, fur-lined cheek pouches or pockets (which 

 are used to carry food, not dirt, and which open outside the mouth), 

 small ears and eyes, and a sliort tail, often naked at the tip. The 

 gopher averages smaller than either the common house rat or the wood 

 or ' ' trade ' ' rat, but there are often great differences in size, especially 

 between the sexes. 



The Pocket Gopher Compared with Animals Sometimes Mistaken for It 



Tail 



Gopher short, 2 to 3 in., 



often naked at tip 

 Mole short, 1 to 1% in. 



Meadow mouse short, 1 to 1% in. 

 Kangaroo rat long, 6 to 10 in. 



External cheek 

 Fur pouches Front teeth 



harsh always present large, 



protruding 



velvety none small 



harsh none small 



silky always present small 



COMPARISON OF MOLE AND POCKET GOPHER 



The nature and work of these two animals are frequently confused, 

 but they differ greatly. The mole is not a rodent (gnawer) at all. It 

 lives on animal matter (worms, grubs, and insects), not on vege- 

 table matter. A mole may occasionally be caught in a gopher run ; 

 but the gopher is the real cause of such damage as eating potatoes and 



* This contribution is revised from the original which constituted Bulletin 

 No. 281, Agric. Exper. Sta., Univ. Calif., published July, 1917. 



