Albino Gophers

Acquired Strychnine Tolerance by Pocket Gophers

Four adult female Botta's pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae) that had survived many normally potentially lethal doses of strychnine alkaloid in another experiment (Lee 1986) were examined further. These individuals freely consumed 0.5% strychnine bait, and 3 of them also 1% strychnine bait, for long periods without dying, whether or not nontoxic alternate bait was present. After 1 gopher (#5) was...

Experimental Studies on Poisoning Pocket Gophers 1 Milton

Untangling Multiple Factors in Spatial Distributions: Lilies, Gophers, and Rocks

Despite broad consensus on the power of experiments, correlational studies are still important in ecology, and may become more so as spatial studies proliferate. Conventional correlation analysis, however, (1) fundamentally conflicts with the basic ecological concept of limiting factors, and (2) ignores spatial structure in data, which can produce spuriously high correlations. Especially for fi...

Laboratory Studies of More Durable Baits for Controlling Pocket Gophers

A laboratory study of 68 Botta's pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae) was carried out to compare the preference for 20 different nontoxic baits and the preference and efficacy of 14 different toxic baits. All baits were designed to be more durable (i.e., longer lasting) than loose grain baits to increase the chance that one baiting might successfully control any new gopher invader that moved into a...

Capsicum-laden soils decrease contact time by northern pocket gophers.

Fossorial rodents damage lawns/water impoundments/crops. We conducted a two-choice, parametric-type study to determine the effects of capsicum-oleoresin/soil mixtures (0.00, 0.75, 1.50, and 2.25%) upon soil-contact, soil-digging, and pelage-grooming behaviors in northern pocket gophers (Thomomys talpoides). In 3 alternate-day (1-h/day) exposures to > or = 1.50% capsicum-oleoresin soil mixtures,...