The world’s only other mammalian farmer

Larger than mice and smaller than rats, gophers are native to parts of North and Central America. With cinnamon-coloured fur, a protruding pair of incisor teeth, and pale-hued feet with claws for digging, these solitary burrowing rodents dig up palatial underground homes with spiral staircases leading to an extensive system of interconnected tunnels—some as long as 160 metres or twice the height of Delhi’s Qutub Minar. Some burrows also have dedicated food chambers, nest chambers and poop chambers. While scientists knew about these rodents’ engineering skills, their farming skills have come to light only recently!

Humans aren’t the only living forms to grow their own food: certain species of ants, termites and beetles are known to grow fungi in their nests to feast on them later. Now, the southeastern pocket gopher (Geomys pinetis) joins the list as the only non-human mammal to do so. Instead of fungi, they tend to the roots growing into the roofs of their tunnel homes by scattering their waste as fertilisers, promoting root growth, and nibbling on them when hungry! All done in the comfort and safety of their home without any need to step outside. They also are extremely territorial and defensive about their tunnel ‘farms’, and use more than half of their daily calories in energy-intensive burrowing activities, which also mixes up soil nutrients and further promotes plant growth.

There’s also another trick up their sleeves that makes gophers literally stand out from other rodents—they are biofluorescent. They glow in the dark when a beam of ultraviolet light shines on them, just like some birds, scorpions, salamanders, opossums and flying squirrels do. It isn’t clear if this glow helps them communicate with each other, defend themselves against predators or just camouflage from prying eyes. They are quirky nevertheless.