Pocket gophers are underground root ‘farmers’

Pocket gophers are known for living solitary, underground lives, eating roots in North and Central American grasslands. Now, researchers have found that pocket gophers keep up with the high energy demands of their burrowing lifestyle by ‘farming’ roots that grow into their tunnels. They calculate that these roots supply 20 to 60 percent of the gophers’ need for daily calories.