Root-cropping behaviour in gophers may represent a kind of husbandry

Gophers graze on roots that grow into their large network of tunnels, which some researchers say could be the first evidence of a non-human mammal engaging in farming. Scientists installed cameras in trenches that they dug around tunnels used by southeastern pocket gophers (Geomys pinetis) in Florida. The roots of above-ground grasses and nettles quickly filled the tunnels that the gophers couldn’t access, but remained short in those they could. The animals nibbled on the roots to nourish themselves and stimulate root regrowth, and dropped waste throughout the network to fertilise the soil — effectively cultivating the crop. Other researchers say the practice can’t be described as farming because the gophers don’t plant or distribute their crops as do humans and other creatures, such as fungus-growing ants.