What is the difference between gophers and woodchucks

One of the main significant features of gophers is the presence of a cheek pouch. They store roots and tubers, which are their main food sources. Generally, gophers have separate burrows for foraging, food stores, nesting and relieving themselves. Groundhog is another rodent that is a part of the marmot group. It belongs to the Sciuridae, which also includes squirrels, chipmunks, marmots and prairie dogs.

It is also known as woodchuck Marmota monax. Also, the outer coat of fur of a groundhog can have a variety of brown shades. They also have an undercoat, which is very dense and gray in color. On the other hand, the tail of the groundhog is short and fully-covered with fur. Moreover, the teeth of groundhogs are white in color and they sit inside the mouth when closed. Significantly, groundhogs are good at climbing trees. Moreover, groundhogs spend more time on the open ground.

But, they sleep in dens or inside simple tunnels. They have separate dens for summer and winter. However, groundhogs do not store food in burrows. They gorge themselves through the summer and some may be active through the winter as well. Gopher refers to a burrowing rodent with fur-lined pouches on the outside of the cheeks, found in North and Central America, while groundhog refers to a small North American mammal with short legs and rough, red-brown fur.

Thus, this is the main difference between gopher and groundhog. Although gophers are solitary creatures, other animals frequently use their burrows. Certain gopher species, like the plains pocket gopher Geomys bursarius , are rarely seen because they spend so much time in their burrows. Animals in the family Geomyidae are called pocket gophers, not because they can fit in your pocket, but because they have giant pockets in their cheeks that they use to store food.

Gophers fill their cheek pouches with roots and tubers, their primary food source, and transport the food to their storage burrow. They have separate burrows for foraging, food stores, nesting and relieving themselves. Gophers seal off their burrows and fill their food stores, or "pantries," for winter hibernation. Rather than keeping a large food store, groundhogs gorge themselves through the summer, bulking up so they have an ample fat supply to feed them after nestling into their dens for winter sleep.

Groundhogs eat roots as well, but they also dine on various other vegetation forms found above ground. Madeline Masters works as a dog walker and professional writer. In the past she has worked as a fitness columnist, fundraising copywriter and news reporter. Masters won two Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Awards in By using the site, you agree to the uses of cookies and other technology as outlined in our Policy, and to our Terms of Use.

In a Different Class The word "gopher" refers to 35 different rodent species divided into five genera. Those Woodchucks warning kept her busy for over an hour. Whatever you call them, although they can be a nuisance, they are really cute!

Here in eastern New York state we call them woodchucks. Have been eating them since my teens. If you cook them right, they are quite good. I had a family living under my deck a couple of years. It got very crowded on my deck as they summed themselves.

That was the end of my patience. That was the end of the story-except I DID get my deck back as a result!! Woodchuck, groundhog, marmot—those guys are all the same. Here in Colorado we call them yellow bellied marmots. No matter—Phil is still the guy on Feb. We read these comments while sitting in the hospital with a critically ill relative, and it was a bright spot in a dark day — thanks! I know someone with a farm who complained that the burrows and holes they make are so big and deep that her cow could break a leg in it.

I had one in my backyard once. My dogs chased it and it ran up into a tree. Needless to say it was cranky at this point. He refused to come.