The Plains Pocket Gopher is a robust burrowing rodent with large, chisel-like incisor teeth used for excavating soil and fur-lined external cheek pouches for transporting food. It spends virtually its entire life underground in a complex burrow system, surfacing only briefly. Pocket gopher burrowing dramatically aerates and fertilizes prairie soils, making them important ecosystem engineers.
Habitat
Deep-soiled prairies, meadows, and agricultural fields
Diet
Roots, tubers, bulbs, and underground plant material
How common
Common
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