Thomomys bottae

Petey thinks pocket gophers are very cute. A huh.

Pocket gophers are amazing rodents, spending almost all of their life underground in the  tunnels they build. How deep are the tunnels and how far do they go? I’ve observed water in an irrigated field disappear down a gopher hole and never fill up. Whoa! Talk about getting water and air into the earth. These rascal are environmental engineers.  And even though they can be pesky around your homestead, they are very cute.