Northern pocket gophers spend nearly their entire lives underground, using fur-lined external cheek pouches to haul roots and tubers back to a burrow system rather than eating on the surface, and with 1,366 records, this is by far the most heavily documented small mammal in this rank range, concentrated in the high meadows of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
Records climb sharply into a July peak, more than 150 times the March low, likely tracking when soft summer soil makes fresh mound-building easiest to spot rather than a true seasonal shift, since this species stays active underground, even tunneling through snow, all year. Only 47 of the state’s records come from iNaturalist photographs, and NatureServe rates the species secure (S5) statewide.
Full species profile
