Gopher (animal)

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A gopher is a small burrowing rodent that comes in many varieties including:

• Pocket gophers of the family Geomyidae, native to North America, also called true gophers.
• "Many ground squirrels" among the family of Sciuridaes (particularly Richardson's Ground Squirrel, Spermophilus richardsonii ).

Gophers are notably much smaller than ground hogs, weighing about 1/2 pound, with the head and body about 6 inches long, a tail of 3 inches and have a 2-3 year lifespan (assuming no diseases or predation).

All gophers have in common, the digging of tunnels, subterranean chambers, and the association with the rodent order, Rodentia. Disruption of such human plans for the surface as commercial agriculture, garden plots, and some landscaping, by their underground activities, leads to their frequent treatment as pests. In contrast, North American entertainment culture and non-technical literature tends to anthropomorphize gopher characters as "non-threatening", if perhaps rascally, figures, such as those found in Loony Toons.

Gophers will create a large community of tunnels with large mounds of dirt at their entrances - these are frequently referred to as "towns". Adult gophers will frequently stand watch at the entrance to a tunnel and whistle when predators are spotted, causing all the other gophers to run for the safety of the tunnels. A gopher town can easily spread to take over large sections of prairie or mountain meadow and may have a population in the thousands. The resulting destruction of plant life will then leave the area a stretch of denuded dirt.

Gophers, like prairie dogs, are frequently the subject of shooting contests, both formal and informal. Due to their size, population, frequent status as pests with ranchers, and habitat, they have become a default target for marksmen. Annual shooting events, like that held by the "Ten Ring Gun Club" in Colorado, are held for cash prizes for shooting such rodents at extreme ranges. Gophers, which often inhabit mountain meadows, are typically shot at with such rifles as the Ruger 10/22 on an informal basis by ranchers and sportsmen.