Food Habits of the Plains Pocket Gopher in Eastern Colorado

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Abstract
The contents of the stomachs of 298 Geomys bursarius taken in the sandhills of eastern Colorado were examined microscopically. As a basis for judging food preferences, floral composition estimates were made at each capture site. Approximately 64% of the yearly diet was grass, although forbs were preferred when they were succulent in spring and summer. The plants most commonly eaten by pocket gophers and the percentages of the yearly diet they comprised were: Stipa comata, 22%; Agropyron smithii, 14%; Bouteloua gracilis, 12% and Opuntia humifusa, 9%. The four most highly preferred plants and their preference indices were: Opuntia humifusa (25.0); Astragalus spp. (10.0); Stipa comata (5.5) and Sphaeralcea coccinea (5.0). Aboveground parts of plants (leaves and stems) were most important in the diet in July, and least important in February and made up 26% of the yearly diet. The food habits of the different sex and age-classes differed slightly. Young animals ate significantly more aboveground vegetation than did adults, and young and adults had different preferences for certain plants.

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