Gophers run root farms


Apparently, not only humans cultivate food plants, some animal species also practice some kind of agriculture. “Southeast gophers are the first non-human mammal farmers,” says Francis Putz of the University of Florida at Gainesville, according to a press release. The gopher gophers of the species widespread in the USA Geomys pinetis use underground root farms to gain enough food and thus energy for digging. Putz, together with Veronica Selden from the University of Florida, reported in the journal Current Biology that the studied southeastern gopher fertilizes the roots and harvests them themselves.

The rat species lives in extensive underground systems, feeding primarily on roots growing into their tunnels. According to the researchers, the rodents not only harvest them, but also cultivate underground root fields with their droppings as fertilizer. In this way, the gopher can continue to provide itself with food while the tunnel is being built, covering between 20 and 60 percent of its daily energy needs.

The gophers cultivate fields instead of farming

The two scientists are aware that the gopher’s root farms do not entirely correspond to human agriculture. The rodents would not grow plants, but only tend them. It is therefore a question of definition, which Putz believes should not be too narrow. After all, “many cultures around the world have developed an agriculture based on perennial crops, many of which were not planted but tended.”

His colleague Veronica Selden hopes that her study will create a larger platform for the little-studied animals. “Purchassies are a lot more interesting than you give them credit for,” said the zoologist. “They are really important ecosystem engineers.” Such behavior as Selden and Putz have now discovered for the gopher gopher is previously known from insects such as ants, beetles and termites. This is how leafcutter ants grow mushrooms. To do this, they chew leaves on which the mushrooms then thrive. (dpa/kas)



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