how do gophers breathe underground?

just wondering.

good question . . . . I bet they just don't breathe enough to the point where they would use up all their excess oxygen in their underground tunnels.

plus they do dig every day (I think), so that'd vent their air.

and maybe they have vent tunnels that let air out.

those fuckers are smart enough to stop water from flooding them . . . so.

well the simplest answer; with lungs

im sure gopher holes lead up to the surface so im sure they get some kind of airflow, and being small they probably take small breaths

Wouldn't all the the holes just bring in fresh air when they breathe? Just a guess

I saw one come out of a hole, once, wearing mini scuba gear.
Also, sometimes you know how you'll see little straws sticking up out of the ground? That's them too.

Gopher farts? Damn, thats gotta suck, can't get away from it.

Osmosis. Also known as "magic".

Snorkels too, probably.

Their tunnels are massive, and have hundreds of openings. So unless they are in a dead end tunnel and that collapses they can breath pretty well, and i guess avoid floods!

Not if you have 1 of these. The rodenator!

dude gophers are like the Vietcong of the animal kingdom

i was at the lake yesterday. i could see where they were tunneling under the sand/soil. there were NO openings ANYWHERE. just bulging earth where they had tunneled. it looked as if the sand/soil was cracked enough on the surface to allow some air in, but they have to be pretty much surround by loose stuff. i tried to dig down a little to find the tunnel and it all just caved in.

Maybe they dont breathe at all.

fdd2blk said:

i was at the lake yesterday. i could see where they were tunneling under the sand/soil. there were NO openings ANYWHERE. just bulging earth where they had tunneled. it looked as if the sand/soil was cracked enough on the surface to allow some air in, but they have to be pretty much surround by loose stuff. i tried to dig down a little to find the tunnel and it all just caved in.

Click to expand...

There have to be openings, otherwise how do the little guys get in/out? typically the entrance to a gopher tunnel looks like a mound of dirt, sometimes there is no visible opening due to settling of the soil.

you have never stepped into a gopher hole?? they are the size of small dogs where i come from.. jack terrier in size... the only holes i have ever seen go straight down on a 45 degree angle.

They dig holes which fill with air...and inhale.

so they dig an opening then it caves in and turns into a mound. then how do they breathe. you can't breathe 50 feet down a little tunnel.

i know how they work and what they do. i don't know why they don't suffricate.

It's magic. Somehow their tunnels hold up, even when they are just below the surface of the soil and it seems like they ought to collapse. Since the tunnels don't collapse, there is air in them which the gophers use to breathe. Gophers generally only dig down to a depth of about 2 feet.

gopher= "goph" "er" = goph air = goofie air= scientificus airlessnitruseous. Also some restaurant mathmatics!

Multiple holes, of differing heights, creating pressure differences, and air is forced to flow from one to another. Somewhat similar to a siphon.

their small animals. They burrow through the dirt & as theydo they scuffle around flattening the dirt just enough to make a path & that tunnel he carved out is filled up with air mass. Nonetheless as they move they displace only their amount of mass in air. & this creates a pump wich ever way they travel somewhere inthe tunnel air is getting sucked in & blown out as the gopher travels displacing air with his body. He's small. Small breaths.

If you were in a tunnel only 3feet wide but 100miles long is it not just a big straw?