It is hard to guess what a Northern pocket gopher weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) on average weights 105 grams (0.23 lbs).
The Northern pocket gopher is from the family Geomyidae (genus: Thomomys). It is usually born with about 3 grams (0.01 lbs). They can live for up to 3.75 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 15.2 cm (0′ 6″). On average, Northern pocket gophers can have babies 1 times per year with a litter size of 4.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) was first described in writing by Lewis and Clark, who encountered it on April 9, 1805 at the mouth of the Knife River in what is now North Dakota. These animals are often rich brown or yellowish brown, but also grayish or closely approaching local soil color and have white markings under the chin. They also weigh less than a quarter of a pound (110 grams).Their habitat consists usually of good soil in meadows or along streams; most often in mountains, but also in lowlands.A special note about the northern pocket gopher is that it rarely appears above ground; when it does, it rarely ventures more than 2.5 feet from a burrow entrance. Underground, however, they often have tunnels that extend hundreds of feet where they live, store food and mate.[1]
Animals of the same family as a Northern pocket gopher
We found other animals of the Geomyidae family:
- Desert pocket gopher with a weight of 206 grams
- Townsend’s pocket gopher with a weight of 263 grams
- Darien pocket gopher with a weight of 437 grams
- Yellow-faced pocket gopher with a weight of 267 grams
- Smoky pocket gopher with a weight of 150 grams
- Oaxacan pocket gopher with a weight of 499 grams
- Smoky pocket gopher with a weight of 403 grams
- Smoky pocket gopher with a weight of 403 grams
- Smoky pocket gopher with a weight of 150 grams
- Merriam’s pocket gopher with a weight of 419 grams
Animals with the same weight as a Northern pocket gopher
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Thomomys talpoides:
- Kobe mole bringing 95 grams to the scale
- Fringe-tailed gerbil bringing 95 grams to the scale
- Wetzel’s climbing mouse bringing 89 grams to the scale
- Savanna gerbil bringing 121 grams to the scale
- Woolly-headed spiny tree-rat bringing 108 grams to the scale
- Siberian chipmunk bringing 94 grams to the scale
- Lesser ricefield rat bringing 104 grams to the scale
- Highland streaked tenrec bringing 102 grams to the scale
- Slender rat bringing 109 grams to the scale
- Silky Oldfield mouse bringing 115 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Northern pocket gopher
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Northern pocket gopher:
- Golden hamster with a size of 18 cm (0′ 8″)
- Edible dormouse with a size of 16.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Lesser hedgehog tenrec with a size of 16 cm (0′ 7″)
- Four-striped ground squirrel with a size of 18.2 cm (0′ 8″)
- White-throated woodrat with a size of 17.6 cm (0′ 7″)
- Large-scaled mosaic-tailed rat with a size of 15.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Brazilian slender opossum with a size of 12.5 cm (0′ 5″)
- Little woolly mouse opossum with a size of 13.7 cm (0′ 6″)
- Somali hedgehog with a size of 12.9 cm (0′ 6″)
- California vole with a size of 13.9 cm (0′ 6″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Northern pocket gopher
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (4) as a Northern pocket gopher:
- Allen’s chipmunk
- Side-striped jackal
- Lesser short-tailed gerbil
- Northern bog lemming
- Lesser short-tailed gerbil
- Panamint chipmunk
- Alpine marmot
- Cerradomys subflavus
- Pale fox
- Japanese grass vole
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Northern pocket gopher
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Northern pocket gopher:
- Golden-rumped elephant shrew with an average maximal age of 4 years
- Black rat with an average maximal age of 4.17 years
- Banded hare-wallaby with an average maximal age of 4 years
- Silvery mole-rat with an average maximal age of 3.08 years
- Greater white-toothed shrew with an average maximal age of 3.17 years
- Lesser mole-rat with an average maximal age of 4.5 years
- Japanese shrew mole with an average maximal age of 3.5 years
- Cape mole-rat with an average maximal age of 3 years
- Brazilian spiny tree-rat with an average maximal age of 3.08 years
- Long-tailed pygmy possum with an average maximal age of 3.17 years