Like squirrels, the Northern pocket gophers carry their food in cheek pouches, hence their name. However, unlike squirrels the cheek pouches of the pocket gopher fold out onto its face and when fully extended they can easily accommodate a human thumb or index finger. The northern pocket gopher feeds mainly on the roots of perennial forbs but switches to green plants in the summer time.
The upper incisors and front claws are long and sharp and made for digging. The neck and shoulder muscles are powerful. A sensitive tail is used by the gopher to navigate backward within a burrow. A special adaptation allows the gopher to close its lips behind the teeth while digging to prevent soil from entering its mouth.
Moist, sandy soils are preferred for excavating extensive burrow systems sometimes reaching 400 to 500 feet in length. Burrows include food storage areas, nest sites, tunnels for depositing feces, and tunnels made while foraging for food. Specifically, the good soils of meadows or along streams; most often in mountains, but also in lowland grasses, cultivated fields, roadsides, lawns, and along river banks.
Gophers use all parts of plants, and diets vary on a seasonal basis partly in response to availability and partly because of quality and succulence. Roots and tubers provide most of the winter diet, whereas spring and summer diets are usually 60 to nearly 100 percent leaves and stems.
Gophers can cause great deal of damage to lawns, golf courses and agricultural fields. They make crescent-shaped mounds that are hollow inside. The mound will characteristically have a plug to one side. One pocket gopher can bring 2-4 tons of soil to the surface in a year's time.
Farmers, nurserymen, and gardeners usually view northern pocket gophers as pests. Since gophers can cause significant damage to crops and gardens, they are actively trapped. Gophers feed entirely on vegetation, mostly roots of broad-leafed plants, bulbs, and tubers. Vegetables are often eaten below the surface with only the leafy material left above ground. Sometimes the gopher will actually pull the entire plant below the surface as seen in cartoons.
