Gopher of the steppe: description, photos and interesting facts

A small rodent belonging to the family of Squirrels. One of the largest representatives of this species is the ground squirrel. Photo and description of this animal you can find in many publications about animals, but today we want to tell about it also.

Appearance

Adult gopher has a body length of 25 to 37 cm. This animal weighs up to 1.5 kg. Approximately 35% of the total length of the body is the tail. Photo of the steppe ground squirrel can be seen in our article.

The hind legs of these animals are somewhat longer than the forelegs. The main difference between gophers and other rodents is in the form of their ears: they are short and slightly down. Behind the cheeks gophers have so-called cheek pouches.

The coat is short and thick. Color light yellow with impregnations of dark hair. On the sides and abdomen fur is lighter. On the tail there are two strips - light yellow on the outside, dark yellow with the inside.

Lifestyle

This cute animal lives in semi-deserts in the west of Kazakhstan, in the steppe zone of the Lower Transvolga. In Central Asia, he prefers to settle in clayey semi-deserts.

The gophers of the steppe are animals that prefer a single way of life. Under favorable conditions, the density of rodents reaches 8 animals per hectare. The colonies of animals can be removed by several dozen, and sometimes hundreds of kilometers from each other. Each adult has its own forage area, which she carefully protects.

In Russia, the most common types of ground squirrels are large and small, and also speckled. Also a thin-pointed gopher is distinguished.

In natural conditions the ground squirrel lives 3-4 years. Sexual maturity occurs in the second year of life.

Life cycle

The gopher of the steppe is in hibernation 9 months a year. In this sense, it is the record among all animals that go into hibernation. This period ends at the end of February. The first to wake up the males, only after them the females, and only then the young individuals. Immediately after awakening, the marriage begins. It lasts about two weeks.

Females carry the cubs for 30 days, small gophers are born in April-May. One brood can number from 4 to 14 cubs. The female feeds offspring a little more than a month, then the cubs leave the mother and begin an independent life.

Young individuals start digging a burrow for themselves on a free mound, the land there is much softer than on the virgin land. First, an incline is excavated, which is then clogged with earth from the inside. Vertical move, which does not reach the surface of the earth a little, is built by the animal closer to the onset of hibernation.

Soil, which the gopher of the steppe zone throws out from the lower layers to the surface, is very important for soil formation. Many experts are sure that thanks to steppe rodents and gophers, including, southern Russia is rich in black earth, the most fertile in the world.

With the onset of heat, when the main part of the vegetation wilts, most of the ground squirrels move from the hills to the lowlands, since there is a longer fresh grass cover there. However, this is not the case in all regions. For example, in Central Asia in hot weather gophers fall into a hibernation.

The enemies of these rodents are various predators, including foxes, wolves, steppe eagles, ferrets.

Ground squirrel: food

This rodent has a not very diverse diet. He prefers plant foods. As a rule, these are bulbs and stems of plants, seeds and tubers of cereal crops, of which there are more than 30 species. Before winter hibernation, the gophers of the steppe spend the whole day searching for food. This is necessary in order to accumulate the necessary stock of fat.

Dwelling place

The animal lives in burrows, which he builds several types. There are permanent, "rescue", temporary shelters. In permanent burrows the animals live in winter, in temporary - in summer, and the purpose of "rescue" is clear from their name.

In the first two types of burrows there are two moves and a nest chamber. Their depth can reach 3 meters in depth, and the length is 7 meters. "Rescue" holes are much smaller in size. This is a long underground passage, inclined. In addition, sometimes the suslik can settle in the burrows of a large gerbil.

A gophers of the steppe - the animal is extremely cautious and secretive. When approaching the danger, he instantly hides in one of the nearest holes. If he has moved far from his shelters, he lies down on the ground and freezes. Thanks to the color of fur, it remains practically invisible on the ground. If this trick did not work, and the danger still persists, he makes a piercing loud whistle, which for some time can disorient the enemy.

A typical specie of the gopher species can be considered a speckled ground squirrel. This is one of the smallest animals in the family, its length does not exceed 26 centimeters.

Speckled ground squirrel: a brief description

He has a chiseled large head, a very mobile neck. Eyes large, round. The paws are short, and the forelegs have movable long fingers. The feature of the speckled ground squirrel (however, like the animals described above) is that it has cheek pouches. They, of course, are not as large and capacious as a hamster's. But at a time the gopher carries in his bags up to several dozen bulbs of plants.

Body color is bright and mottled. On the back of the brown color are scattered large spots of white, this is the mottle, from which the name of the species has gone. The spots merge on the head and neck, forming a whitish ripple. The "glasses" around the eyes stand out clearly against the cheeks. The tail is decorated with a light border along the very edge. The speckled ground squirrel, unlike many of its congeners, is active during the day. He lives in the meadows and in the steppes.

The mottled gopher conducts the main part of life in an individual burrow. Zverek extremely energetic, but timid. Moving through the open area, he becomes a "column" on the hind legs and looks around. A frightened gopher sounds with a loud whistle warning neighbors of the danger.

Content

Catching a gopher is easy, but it is much harder to teach him to live in captivity. It can hardly be hoped that this rodent will turn into a complaisant and responsive pet. Gophers do not get used to people. In addition, their way of life is not very suitable for home maintenance. Early in the morning they are active, and in the afternoon they hide in the hole. In addition, it must be borne in mind that these animals do not have a very pleasant smell.

Quite often, the content of gophers in a cage reduces the life span of animals, and sometimes leads to their death. Ground squirrels do not breed. But if you really want to get this funny little creature, then it should be kept in a spacious aviary in the open air. The only species that can be suitable for domestic maintenance is a thin-heeled ground squirrel. It is distinguished by its ridiculous habits, which are very similar to the squirrel.

Inside the enclosure, there must always be a shelter so that your pet can safely fall into a hibernation. Floor the cage with hay or straw, which must be changed regularly. A must-have mustard is necessary.

It is interesting

Surprisingly, the gophers of the steppe are well adapted to the heat. Interesting facts are reported by scientists.

• These rodents are not afraid of changes in body temperature to ten degrees. For comparison, it should be remembered that a person feels unwell with a change in body temperature by half a degree. Avoid the heat stroke to these animals helps the habit of sitting in a column: the head is away from the hot soil. But for a long time in the heat they do not happen. Help cool the holes and a rare shadow.
• The gopher, the inhabitant of the steppes, eats more than 16 kilograms of grass and grain over the summer.
• A small gopher is the most harmful rodent. It spoils pastures, destroys valuable fodder plants. In areas of intensive farming, these rodents are exterminated.
• The struggle with them saves the harvest, gives a large number of skins. It is impossible not to say that gophers can be carriers of dangerous diseases (plague, brucellosis, etc.).