Thomomys talpoides
Silhouette: Xavier A. Jenkins · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) is a small gopher species native to the western United States and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Manitoba. Northern pocket gophers have long rich brown to yellowish brown fur, paler below, with a black patch behind the ear. They weigh 60 to 160 grams (2.1 to 5.6 oz).
Their habitat consists usually of good soil in meadows or along streams; most often in mountains, but also in lowlands. Northern pocket gophers rarely appear above ground; when they do, they rarely venture more than 2.5 feet (0.76 m) from a burrow entrance. Underground, however, they often have tunnels that extend hundreds of feet where they live, store food, and give birth to their young.
According to an article published in the Journal of Mammalogy, there are both positive and negative impacts of burrowing by pocket gophers on the organisms around them. Burrowing and grazing have an impact on the plants and the herbivores that consume these plants, even though gophers do not directly interact with the insects in their habitats. Changes in the plants' composition can cause an increase... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Teton National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Yellowstone National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Pocket Gopher sighting in Calgary on a given day, based on 42 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 15th most-seen of the 25 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April, July–October and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Northern Pocket Gopher in Calgary on a given day, against under 5% in January–March, May–June and November, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Northern Pocket Gopher sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Calgary, in our data
Calgary is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Northern Pocket Gopher sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Rodentia
The closest relatives of the Northern Pocket Gopher that you can see in Calgary (order Rodentia, Rodents) are Eastern Gray Squirrel (about 40%), American Beaver (about 30%) and Richardson's Ground Squirrel (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Northern Pocket Gopher is recorded against all the mammals logged in Calgary (42 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
