Description ²

Equipped for a subterranean life, the Southeastern Pocket Gopher's muscular front legs, thick-set front body, massive claws on its front feet, small eyes and ears, and incisors protruding beyond the lips are obvious adaptations to life in dark, snug spaces fashioned in loose soil. Fur-lined cheek pouches are the grocery bags this mammal uses to transport food from the source to its burrow system.

Habitat ³

This pocket gopher generally resides in either the sandhill ecosystem or the xeric hammock ecosystem. Longleaf pines and turkey oaks are the two dominant trees within the sandhill ecosystem. In areas where sandhill and xeric hammock habitats are disappearing from modern land-use practices, pocket gophers are adapting by burrowing into road shoulders, railroad embankments, fields, lawns, orchards, cemeteries, and golf courses.

Conservation status ⁴

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Chuck Abbe, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Botta's_Pocket_Gopher_(Thomomys_bottae).jpg
2. Adapted by okaloosascience from a work by (c) Smithsonian Institution, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/16146871
3. Adapted by okaloosascience from a work by (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31396168
4. Adapted by okaloosascience from a work by (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31396175

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Animal Diversity Web
• ASM Mammal Diversity Database
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• iNaturalist Mammal Working Group
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• VertNet

Range Map

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