It is pretty pissed at me and would like to bite me, but I can deal with that. It didn’t die of poison. I took it up and let it go on the other side of the property in a nice oak and grassy area. Oh, and an aside, I was working on a california lilac and discovered that the wood is incredibly hard and it started me thinking about why oak wood is also so hard and it maybe a gopher defense.
Other thoughts. I recently dug two holes in the ground and blocked a gopher. Actually this one :-)
The holes were about five or six inches apart which would prevent the Gopher from continuing. Or so I thought — because in one evening it dug around the first hole and between it and the second hole. Given that its tunnel was about 3 inches wide, that left less than one and a half inches of clearance on each side. And it dug straight down the middle of the gap. This is about the third time something like this has happened and I’m convinced that they can somehow sense three dimensionally where their tunnels are in the ground. Maybe they have developed a ground penetrating radar system :-)
Gophers are truly amazing little animals. Can you see in the second picture the mouth structure that allows them to use their teeth as well as their claws while digging without getting dirt in their mouths. Of course it would sure like to let its teeth dig into me at this point :-) Cool!
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