MOUNTAIN BEAVERS AND POCKET GOPHERS

They belong to the family of squirrel rodents.

MOUNTAIN BEAVER

The short, stocky animal is about 30-41 cm long with a stubby tail. It has been misnamed. It is neither a beaver nor does it live on mountains.

It is making its home along the Pacific coast of North America from southern British Columbia to central California. The area it inhabits is from the sea level up to the tree line and in woodlands with dense undergrows.

It is nocturnal and digs extensive burrow in well-drained soil. The burrow has a number of openings to be able to escape and leading to a labyrinth of tunnel system. It includes chambers for sleeping, storing food and defecating

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Its diet consists of plant material which it eats as it picks it and at same time takes a great amount back to the burrow.

Mountain beavers are not known for climbing but it will climb up to 7m to gnaw off small twigs and branches off a tree. As it climbs and eats it will leave a small stub of each twigg and uses it as a foothold when climbing down, head first.

It is able to breed and mate after two years. The mating season last over six weeks from the late winter to the early spring. One litter of two to five young is born each year. They are helpless at birth, and weaned at about eight weeks. They will be forced out of the burrow in the autumn.

POCKET GOPHERS

Pocket Gophers are the professional of burrowers. They live their lives underground more than its relatives.

Their territory stretches from north and central America and from western Canada south to Panama. They can be found in all sorts of habitats provided the soil suits them.

Nature provided them with a thickset body, with short legs and a short thin haired tail which is very sensitive to the touch.

The feet on the powerful forelimbs have five strong digging claws. Digging is also done with the long, curved incisors; the lips close behind to prevent dirt getting into the mouth. Therefore their long, curved incisors are always visible and the claws growing in an incredible rate, about one millimetre a day.

The animal is named pocket gopher because it has fur lined pouches on either side of the face. They can extend from the cheek to the shoulder. They are used to carry food down its burrows and can be turned inside out for cleaning.

Pocket Gophers‘ living quarter is an elaborated, excavated deep underground system. It has many tunnels and chambers for nests, food, storage and defecating. They also tunnel nearer the surface to feed on roots and tubers.

They are solitary and can be aggressive. Each animal digs and occupies its own burrow and its own territory. Territories vary but males occupy bigger territories than females.

They mostly feed underground but surface to find plant material which is either eats there or takes it underground.  Pocket Gophers can run fast forward or backward and uses its tail to help as a guide.

In the winter, in the colder parts of its range, it becomes fairly inactive but does not hibernate. They mate in spring and then male and female separate.

Gestation is 17-20 days and the litter is of two to 11 young. They depend on the mother for six weeks and after two to three weeks they move out. Then the young are digging their own tunnels and burrows.

The males are maturing at about one year and the female start breeding about three months. Therefore they can have several litters a year.