this with approximately 270 forms very species-hands gophers is digging, almost exclusively underground living rodents of North America.
its outer shape reminds of the affiliation with the croissant-relationship in nothing more. Sooner, they see like relatives of the sand-diggers, voles or even the moles (insectivores)!) from. Here the nature shows again impressively how types of animal of different origin develop astonishingly similar "function-shapes" through parallel-development, therefore through adaptation at same habitats and way of life.
Shape The kurzschnauzige head almost is without neck ("stiernackig") at the cylindrical one(s), clumsy working bodies joined. Eyes and particularly ears are tiny; because these senses play only a subordinate role under days. The short, though powerful paws carry strong, sickle-shaped bent grave-claws. Since the lips contract behind the Nagezähnen also with closed mouth, however, the so always visible, mighty, tawny Nagezähne turn into the showiest characteristic.
The Nagezähne support the front-claws with the subversive activity, they chisel the ground, that then loose-scratched with the front-claws and the rear-feet are thrown to the back, on.
Since turning often is difficult in the narrow tubes, gophers also frequently run backwards through its walks. The extended tail serves them as "tentacles" on that occasion. This carries many sensitive Tasthaare, that make it to a virtually unique feeler.
Cheek-bags The barely hamster-big gophers owe its name to the deep ones, indoors with fur of from-dressed cheek-bags, that lead densely behind the mouth-corners. To cleaning, the bags are simply turned like turned gloves outside.
Food Gophers eat roots, tubers, nuts, seeds, fruits and juicy stems, that cut it with the Nagezähnen to palatable pieces and stuff into the cheek-bags. In the storerooms, that are usually ordered ring around the residential-chamber, the collective-bags then are emptied.
Through the enormous Wühltätigkeit, gophers have big influence on ground-nature and plant-blankets. Some types become very damaging in some areas of the USA and Mexico where they destroy whole harvests at mass-appearance.
Reproduction They on average 5-6 tiny, hairless boys were born in the spring; only rarely, another 2 comes in the autumn. Throw to the world.
Types One assumes that the many forms developed through strong isolation of individual populations, that is tried on at different grounds in each case.
The mountain-gopher (Thomomys bottae), who is given a home in the southern Rocky Mountains as far as after low-California, shows a quite different fur-color according to region. While the Californian coast-populations are black, the mountain-inhabitants carry usually brown and the animals in the Imperial-Wüste even almost white furs. This type becomes very damaging in the valleys in citric and sugarcane-plantations.
The giant-gopher (Thomomys bulbivorus) comes only in one narrowly restricted spread-area, that Willamette Valley in Oregon, before.
The lowland-gopher (Geomys bursarius, length 25 cm) becomes similarly big from the American Midwest. Also with this partial, very destructive manner, the fur-color of tawny varies in the west over brown until almost black in Illinois. Spotted animals and albinos quite frequently perform beside it. From the other, partially very similar forms of the type Geomys, the lowland-gopher differs each Nagezahns in 2 clear longitudinal-furrows for itself on the forefront.
However, the far biggest gopher is the hamster-rat (Orthogeomys grandis), that with up to 1 kg of weight 35 cm of length can reach. it lives in evergreen foliage-forests of Mexico and frequently gets into coffee and banana-plantations, where it prepares considerable damage.
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