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Determining Sex Of Plains Pocket Gophers By Incisor Width, Ronald M. Case, Alan B. Sargeant

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

Biologists studying food habits of predators can often determine the prey species but not the sex of the prey from remains found at dens, in stomachs, scats, or pellets of predators. Knowledge of the sex of prey is useful in evaluating predator food habits as well as indicating sex specific differences in prey behavior.

Plains pocket gophers, Geomys bursarius, can be easily identified by the presence of two prominent grooves on the face of each upper incisor. This makes them ideal specimens for studying prey remains. In this paper, we present data that can be used to identify the …