Are Pocket Gophers Underground Farmers?
A study finds that roots grow deeper than typical into southeastern pocket gophers tunnel networks, raising the possibility that the rodents cultivate their food.
Andy Carstens
Jul 11, 2022
When Jack Putz and his student decided to study root growth in southeastern pocket gopher (Geomys pinetis) tunnels, they didn’t realize how difficult it would be to isolate sections of the underground structures. First, they tried to block two ends off with aluminum plates. “And then we got outsmarted by a pocket gopher,” Putz, a biologist at University of Florida, tells The Scientist.
The pocket gopher, immortalized as Carl Spackler’s fossorial nemesis in the movie Caddyshack, dug around the researcher’s barricades, filled in the section isolated for study, blocked it off from surrounding tunnel connections, and proceeded to burrow elsewhere. In the end, to isolate short tunnel segments for study, Putz and his student Veronica Selden had to carefully dig in rings and bury hollowed-out cylindrical barrels that served as 360-degree blockades around 57 cm-long sections of tunnel.
Their hard work paid off, leading to the insight that significant root ingrowth into the tunnels provides a food source that the pocket gophers seem to cultivate, according to research published today (July 11) in Current Biology. “Pocket gophers . . . are actually farming roots in the extensive tunnel systems that they maintain presumably for that purpose,” says Putz.
The paper cites research showing that some species of ants, termites, and beetles engage in farming activities but notes that while experts may disagree on the semantics of what qualifies as farming, the pocket gopher is the first nonhuman mammal found to farm.
More:
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/are-pocket-gophers-underground-farmers-70209