Botta's Pocket Gopher

Description:

"Botta's pocket gopher (Thomomys bottae) is a pocket gopher native to western North America. It is also known in some sources as valley pocket gopher, particularly in California. Both the specific and common names of this species honor Paul-Émile Botta, a naturalist and archaeologist who collected mammals in California in the 1820s and 1830s. Botta's pocket gopher is a medium-sized gopher, with adults reaching a length of 18 to 27 centimetres (7.1 to 10.6 in), including a 5 to 6 centimetres (2.0 to 2.4 in) tail. Males are larger, with a weight of 160–250 grams (5.6–8.8 oz), compared with 120–200 grams (4.2–7.1 oz) in the females. Coloration is highly variable, and has been used to help distinguish some of the many subspecies; it may also change over the course of a year as the animals molt. Both albino and melanistic individuals have also been reported. However, Botta's gopher generally lacks the black stripe down the middle of the back found in the closely related southern pocket gopher, a feature that may be used to tell the two species apart where they live in the same area."