How big does a Plains pocket gopher get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Plains pocket gopher (Geomys bursarius) reaches an average size of 16.8 cm (0′ 7″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). During their lifetime of about 7.17 years, they grow from 5 grams (0.01 lbs) to 179 grams (0.39 lbs). Talking about reproduction, Plains pocket gophers have 3 babies about 1 times per year. The Plains pocket gopher (genus: Geomys) is a member of the family Geomyidae.
As a reference: Humans reach an average body size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) while carrying 62 kg (137 lbs). A human woman is pregnant for 280 days (40 weeks) and on average become 75 years old.
The plains pocket gopher (Geomys bursarius) is one of 35 species of pocket gophers, so named in reference to their externally located, fur-lined cheek pouches. They are burrowing animals, found in grasslands and agricultural land across the Great Plains of North America, from Manitoba to Texas. Pocket gophers are the most highly fossorial rodents found in North America.
Animals of the same family as a Plains pocket gopher
We found other animals of the Geomyidae family:
- Mazama pocket gopher with a size of 14.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Baird’s pocket gopher with a size of 15 cm (0′ 6″)
- Southeastern pocket gopher with 1 babies per litter
- Michoacan pocket gopher with a size of 22.5 cm (0′ 9″)
- Wyoming pocket gopher with 6 babies per litter
- Botta’s pocket gopher with a size of 15.6 cm (0′ 7″)
- Smoky pocket gopher with a weight of 150 grams
- Variable pocket gopher with a weight of 615 grams
- Merriam’s pocket gopher with 1 babies per litter
- Townsend’s pocket gopher with a size of 18.4 cm (0′ 8″)
Animals with the same size as a Plains pocket gopher
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Plains pocket gopher:
- Round-tailed muskrat with a size of 19.9 cm (0′ 8″)
- Franquet’s epauletted fruit bat with a size of 13.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Mount Data shrew-rat with a size of 20.1 cm (0′ 8″)
- Gorongoza gerbil with a size of 16 cm (0′ 7″)
- Mindanao treeshrew with a size of 19.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Biak naked-backed fruit bat with a size of 16.4 cm (0′ 7″)
- New Britain naked-backed fruit bat with a size of 16.1 cm (0′ 7″)
- Thirteen-lined ground squirrel with a size of 13.7 cm (0′ 6″)
- California vole with a size of 13.9 cm (0′ 6″)
- Isarog shrew-rat with a size of 18.7 cm (0′ 8″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Plains pocket gopher
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (3) as a Plains pocket gopher:
- Savanna path shrew
- Desert warthog
- Darien harvest mouse
- Pinyon mouse
- Crab-eating fox
- Greater Egyptian gerbil
- Whitehead’s spiny rat
- San Diego pocket mouse
- Red river hog
- Cape gerbil
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Plains pocket gopher
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Plains pocket gopher:
- Black-tailed prairie dog with an average maximal age of 8.5 years
- Nathusius’s pipistrelle with an average maximal age of 8 years
- Collared pika with an average maximal age of 6 years
- Townsend’s chipmunk with an average maximal age of 7 years
- Orange-bellied Himalayan squirrel with an average maximal age of 7.08 years
- European mole with an average maximal age of 7 years
- White-tailed antelope squirrel with an average maximal age of 5.75 years
- Greater musky fruit bat with an average maximal age of 8 years
- Greater bulldog bat with an average maximal age of 5.75 years
- Rakali with an average maximal age of 6.17 years
Animals with the same weight as a Plains pocket gopher
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Geomys bursarius:
- Indian hedgehog bringing 171 grams to the scale
- Attwater’s pocket gopher bringing 144 grams to the scale
- Mzab gundi bringing 194 grams to the scale
- Banks flying fox bringing 210 grams to the scale
- Common degu bringing 203 grams to the scale
- Large mosaic-tailed rat bringing 209 grams to the scale
- Short-tailed bandicoot rat bringing 178 grams to the scale
- Colombian weasel bringing 211 grams to the scale
- Four-toed elephant shrew bringing 201 grams to the scale
- Four-striped ground squirrel bringing 180 grams to the scale