Nevada mammals

Botta's Pocket Gopher in Nevada

Thomomys bottae

Native to Nevada SNR Unranked in Nevada

Not listed as nonindigenous in Nevada by USGS NAS; native to its Nevada range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Botta's Pocket Gopher in Nevada, by the numbers

Common in Nevada 8th most recorded of 142 mammals logged in Nevada

1,323 occurrence records

Records from 2000–2026.

1,323 total records count every Nevada occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300; the monthly chart covers the 1,312 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Botta's Pocket Gopher in Nevada

Most sightings fall in May.

1,312 Nevada occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Nevada records (table)
MonthRecords
January131
February56
March63
April78
May411
June115
July159
August59
September82
October99
November25
December34

Monthly botta's pocket gopher occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Nevada, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Nevada, with recorded sightings peaking in May.

Occurrence map

Where Botta's Pocket Gopher has been recorded in Nevada

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 Nevada records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Mt. Moriah Wilderness 14
Arc Dome Wilderness 12
Great Basin National Park 11
Alta Toquima Wilderness 7
Toiyabe National Forest 5
Fort Churchill State Historic Park 5
Death Valley National Park 4
Basin and Range National Monument 4

Protected places with the most botta's pocket gopher sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in Nevada

CountyRecords
Nye County 487
Churchill County 185
White Pine County 120
Lincoln County 107
Clark County 103
Lyon County 83
Washoe County 81
Esmeralda County 57
Mineral County 38
Elko County 21
Storey County 16
Lander County 11
3 other counties 14

The complete county distribution, spread across 15 Nevada counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Nevada records for the bottas pocket gopher are anchored by Desert National Wildlife Refuge and Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. They show where people have reported it, not how many animals live there.

These sites place the Nevada record pattern firmly in the state’s southern desert country. The protected lands also span springs, canyons, and open basin terrain. The monthly pattern is fairly spread out rather than confined to one Nevada season. It tracks observer records and shouldn’t be read as a population count.

The file combines 0 research-grade iNaturalist records and 1,323 GBIF records. Those 1,323 records measure documented encounters, not Nevada’s population size. It’s native to Nevada. Nevada doesn’t specifically list it under the state’s conservation framework, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

More mammals in Nevada in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"