From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A gopher is a small burrowing rodent. Varieties include

• pocket gophers of the family Geomyidae, native to North America, also called true gophers
• many ground squirrels from among the family Sciuridae
  • particularly Richardson's Ground Squirrel, Spermophilus richardsonii

All gophers have in common the digging of tunnels and subterranean chambers and the traits associated 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.

Gophers are notably much smaller than ground hogs in many ways. For example: Weight .5lbs, Head and Body 6 inches, Tail 3 inches, and 2-3 year lifespan. The mythology of the largely disappeared American prairie, while often distinguishing the prairie dog from gophers, accords the prairie dog a niche as the romantic small-animal symbol of the prairie.