The pockets are used to carry food. Gophers have powerfully built forequarters with large claws on their front feet, a short neck, external ears, small eyes, and lips that close behind their large incisors. Their fine and soft fur ranges in color from dark brown, to pale brown, to nearly white. Two species of pocket gophers are found in Kansas. Both species are about the same size.
Pocket gophers attain the highest densities on light-textured soils with good herbage production.
Shallow soils limit pocket gophers due to tunnel cave-ins and poor insulation from warm summer and cold winter temperatures. Food Habits Pocket gophers feed on roots encountered while digging, on vegetation pulled into the tunnel from below, and on above ground vegetation near the tunnel. Pocket gophers prefer above ground portions of vegetation when it is green and succulent. Plains pocket gophers prefer succulent forbs in spring and summer but also feed on grasses. Alfalfa is preferred by gophers.