About Gophers: Appearance, Biology, Life Cycle, Habitat, Diet and Behavior

Gopher is a ground burrowing animal in rodent family and they are of different species in the central as well as North America. The extensive turning ability of gophers is just one of the things people know them for. If you have been thinking about what gopher look like you are going to get the information on this article. This article dedicated to give you information on all the things you need to know about Gopher the appearance, biology, life cycle, habitat, diet and even the behavior.

The Appearance of Gopher
The weight of gopher is about 0.5 pounds and it is about 6 to 8 inches long. It is only few of the species that normally weigh up to 1 kilogram. The males are known to be larger in body size than the females. More so, the males have double the body weight. Some of the things people usually use to identify gopher include the tiny ears, front teeth, short tails and the small eyes.

The Biology and Life Cycle
Gophers are known to breed only once or two times in a year generally during the spring. The female gophers usually give birth to about three young gophers in a litter. The baby gopher normally develops fast and the mother usually wean then after 5 weeks. For the life cycle, the average gopher is known to live from 3 to five years. This is in the absence of predators and diseases. There are equally some gopher species that last up to 7 years in the wild.The Diet and Habitat
Gophers are popular for their hoarding habit. The animal normally store foods in their cheek when they want to take it to their burrows and they usually stockpile huge quantity of foods that can last for them when the weather is not favorable for foraging. Gopher is also omnivores and has special love for berries, nuts, bulbs, grass, leaves as well as insects. There are more than 100 types of gophers in the entire North America. They usually love to live in the woodland, coastal mountainous region, prairies and inside their ground tunnel.

The Behavior
Gopher is a well nitrous hoarder as it can pack enough food in the cheek and store in their burrows. It normally stands on the feet when it wants to watch out for predators around. Also the male gopher does not help the female during their baby upbringing.