07/12/2023
Mounds on the ground!
When stopping for a photo at our park entrance sign, have you ever seen mounds of sand on the ground? You might think, why did someone dump a bucket of sand on the ground right here?! In reality, these sand mounds are from the burrowing activities of the elusive Texas pocket gopher, a rodent resident of Padre Island National Seashore and South Texas.
The Texas pocket gopher (Geomys personatus) forages mostly underground on the roots, bulbs, stems, and leaves of grasses in the coastal prairie. Though they weigh less than one pound, one gopher can move over one ton of sand in a year! Their tunneling mixes and aerates the sand- making it more fertile for plants, making Texas pocket gophers an important part of the coastal prairie ecosystem.
Pocket gophers have a unique defense system against intruders to their burrow. They will emit a wheezy call and gnash their teeth. Actually… that’s pretty cute!
Texas pocket gophers are rarely seen so the sand mounds are usually the only evidence we have of their activities. They are definitely another cryptic creature of Padre Island National Seashore!
NPS Photo/ Kelly Taylor
