On a run in some nearby hills between showers recently I bent forward for a moment. Looking down from the riot of sunlit lime-green grasses and first leaves of spring, I noticed the raised trails of a burrowing animal. For all the experience I've have had with yards, gardens and the outdoors, I had little idea what I was looking at. All I could I assume was that I had seen the trail of a gopher or mole and that these were similar animals. As I explored further, I learned that my ignorance, as so often happens, has allowed me to lump animals together that are quite different and to make assumptions that were not correct.

In fact, moles and gophers, or pocket gophers, are very different mammals. Of seven mole species and five pocket gophers in California, two moles and one gopher are common residents here.

The Broad-footed or California Mole, Scapanus latimanus, is found in our region as it is throughout most of the state. The Shrew-mole, Nuerotrichus gibbsii, is found in the moist forest areas here. Moles are not rodents. They belong to the Insectivora order, along with shrews, and as this name indicates, they make their living mostly on insect grubs and other small earthbound animals. Moles as a rule are voracious, eating 70 to 100 percent of their body weight each day to maintain their high metabolism. They are active at any time of day, year round, though apparently they are most active in spring when rain and sun conditions favor a high production of insects and earthworms. Moles have tiny eyes, poor eyesight, and tiny ears. They can, however, feel minute vibrations of their prey, which they tunnel after. The Shrew-mole is found above the surface commonly, whereas the Broad-footed is almost never found there.

The Broad-footed mole can travel near the surface when the ground is moist at nearly one foot per minute--no small feat when considering its 6 inch size and small body mass. It is able to tunnel so efficiently because of an adaptation that has turned its wide front feet palms outward, allowing the feet to be used like paddles to push through the soil. As most moles, it also has a hard, tapered nose that can poke into soil and pack it. Moles form small ridges on the surface as they seek out food there. These are the soil runways that we see along trails, meadows and forest edges. While they like moist soil, it is speculated that the Broad-footed mole may migrate short distances to dryer land, even into chaparral, in wet weather.

During periods when they are on the surface, predators, especially owls, may find them. The Broad-footed mole is mostly solitary, except in breeding season and will defend its territory from other moles. Females typically have one litter of 4 young each year in spring. These are weaned in 30 to 35 days and leave the nest in June. Little is known about the reproductive patterns of the Shrew-mole.

Pocket gophers by comparison belong to the Rodentia order. The common local gopher, the Botta's Pocket Gopher,Thomomys bottae, like many rodents is a vegetarian. Pocket gophers eat roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, and leaves of forbs and grasses. They gain the "pocket gopher" name from fur-lined external cheek pouches that allow them to carry food which they store in their burrows. Like the mole, they are active year round, and at any time of day underground, though they are mainly nocturnal when above ground. Gophers prefer dry, light soils, and can obtain much of their moisture from plants they eat, though the Botta's, unlike other pocket gophers will live in heavier clay soils like ours. They may have as many as 3 litters of several young per year, and otherwise, like the moles, they are solitary and highly territorial. Pocket gophers may have as many as 200 feet of tunnels in their territory including food chambers and a nest. Their numerous mounds are fan shaped, and larger than the more round and conical mounds of moles.

For all the garden and crop damage that pocket gophers are famous for, and moles are often wrongly blamed for, these burrowing animals actually do tremendous good in the role they occupy in nature. They build soil in numerous ways, including turning it over, bringing up sub-soil where it can break down, and incorporating organic matter. They decrease run-off and assist water to infiltrate into the groundwater table. They are part of an intricate system of activities that form the complex ecology of the soil that our very lives depend on.

As usual, I find that those things in nature I know little about and may quickly blame for an inconvenience, may in fact help in ways that are essential.