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Those Mounds of Sand Along the Highway - Southeastern Pocket Gopher
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What may appear as many fire ant mounds along our highways are instead often sand mounds created by a Florida wildlife species known as the Southeastern Pocket Gopher.
While driving from Tampa to Tallahassee the other day (early January 2007) many, many fresh sand mounds were apparent in the higher and dryer areas along the highway. With all the recent rain we have had, the quiet and relatively unseen population of pocket gophers was in overdrive refurbishing their burrows and cavities. The results of their activities are all the little white and tan mounds of sand that many folks (from the distance) think are ant mounds. Don't be fooled!
This gopher is relatively ubiquitous in well-drained soils in Florida (from central Florida northward), Georgia, and Alabama. Though it is seldom seen since it generally stays below the ground, especially during daylight hours. "Their burrowing produces conspicuous aggregates of earthen mounds (Fig. 1). Since the gophers tend not to leave the confines of their burrow system during daylight hours, few people have ever seen this animal. The burrow system (Fig. 2) created by each gopher often exceeds a hundred feet in length. Each system typically has six to twelve mounds associated with it. The mounds are connected to the burrow system by diagonal tubes that are generally plugged with dirt so that no. open entrances are visible above ground (Avise and Larem 1982). Pocket gophers require open grassland or marginal habitats rich in grasses and herbaceous vegetation for their survival. They are probably the most important grazing herbivore of longleaf pine/wiregrass ecosystems. Their constant burrowing enhances soil fertility by moving nutrients to the surface that would be otherwise lost via leaching or other factors (Grant & McBrayer, 1981" [The Gopher Project, Distribution Patterns of Insects Inhabiting Burrows of the Southeastern Pocket Gopher: A gateway to data and knowledge coordinated by famu.org. - famu.org is associated with the College of Engineering Sciences, Technology and Agriculture at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.]
For additional information on this rarely seen by relatively common Florida animal you can go to the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences site and read the article: "Southeastern Pocket Gopher" by William H. Kern, Jr...
This gopher is relatively ubiquitous in well-drained soils in Florida (from central Florida northward), Georgia, and Alabama. Though it is seldom seen since it generally stays below the ground, especially during daylight hours. "Their burrowing produces conspicuous aggregates of earthen mounds (Fig. 1). Since the gophers tend not to leave the confines of their burrow system during daylight hours, few people have ever seen this animal. The burrow system (Fig. 2) created by each gopher often exceeds a hundred feet in length. Each system typically has six to twelve mounds associated with it. The mounds are connected to the burrow system by diagonal tubes that are generally plugged with dirt so that no. open entrances are visible above ground (Avise and Larem 1982). Pocket gophers require open grassland or marginal habitats rich in grasses and herbaceous vegetation for their survival. They are probably the most important grazing herbivore of longleaf pine/wiregrass ecosystems. Their constant burrowing enhances soil fertility by moving nutrients to the surface that would be otherwise lost via leaching or other factors (Grant & McBrayer, 1981" [The Gopher Project, Distribution Patterns of Insects Inhabiting Burrows of the Southeastern Pocket Gopher: A gateway to data and knowledge coordinated by famu.org. - famu.org is associated with the College of Engineering Sciences, Technology and Agriculture at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.]
For additional information on this rarely seen by relatively common Florida animal you can go to the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences site and read the article: "Southeastern Pocket Gopher" by William H. Kern, Jr...
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