Reproduction in the Plains Pocket Gopher in Colorado

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Abstract
Reproductive data were obtained from dissections of 1,218 Geomys hursarius taken in northeastern Colorado from September 1958 through December 1960. Fifty-seven per cent of the gophers were females; 23% were young. Males begin to produce sperm when approximately eight months old. The testes, seminal vesicles and caudal epididymides of males enlarge rapidly in December and January, and most adult males are fertile from January through June. The reproductive organs of adult males are regressed and do not produce sperm from August through November. When young females are approximately eight months old their pubic symphyses begin to resorb; the pubic gaps reach adult breadth (9 to 12 mm) when the animals are about 11 months old. Pregnant animals were taken most frequently in April and May; in these months most of the young are born. There is one annual litter per female. Embryos and placental scars averaged 3.40 and 3.46 respectively. Dispersal of young from parental burrows begins in June, and most young are solitary by August. Plains pocket gophers are less strongly territorial from December through September than during the rest of the year, as evidenced by captures of more than one gopher per burrow system. Multiple occupancy of burrow systems was recorded, and involved a variety of age-sex combinations. Multiple occupancy was highest in early March, when 42% of the gophers trapped were multiple occupants.

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