A Field Study of Activity Patterns of Thomomys bottae

Abstract

Activity of pocket gophers, Thomomys bottae, which were tagged with radioactive gold wires, was distributed throughout the 24-h day, but was significantly more common between 1600–2000 h. Pocket gophers spent 15 h/day in underground nest chambers at depths of 40 cm. The remainder of the day was spent in activities in the general burrow system at depths 2, but 90% of all activity occurred within an area of 48 m². Gophers moved within their burrows at rates of 1.1 m/min active (<600 m/day), and did not burrow extensively.