If you owned a convenience store, the last thing in the world you'd want to see is a competitor building a new store across the street from you. It could even make you downright cranky!
One group of mammals renowned for their crankiness are the
tunnel-dwelling pocket gophers. And this may not be entirely a bad thing, because in
many areas of the Chihuahuan Desert, up to three species may occur—high-class
competition indeed. Differing somewhat in size and digging abilities, the three species
around El Paso, for example, divide up the countryside (or the underground part of it,
anyway). The Desert Pocket Gopher rules over the valley with its deep, sandy areas,
while the larger Yellow-faced Pocket Gopher goes for the deep, tight soils edging the
bolson. Pity, though, poor Botta's Pocket Gopher, the smallest and weakest digger
of the three. Although ruling the deep valley soils in regions where it occurs alone,
the El Paso branch is stuck with the shallow, stony soils of the Franklin Mountains.
Crankiness sometimes isn't enough to overrule brute strength.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.