This collection has 22 free gopher coloring pages — though not all 22 are actually gophers. Nineteen show gophers and groundhog-style burrowing rodents: four popping out of dirt mounds and burrows, and fifteen standing, sitting, or climbing in open scenery. The other three are mislabeled: two are clearly beavers, and one is a long-eared, long-tailed animal that matches neither species. Every page is black and white on US Letter, downloads as a free PDF, and needs no signup.
A tail is the fastest way to tell these species apart on a coloring page: a gopher’s tail is short, thin, and barely sketched in, while a beaver’s is drawn as one wide, flat paddle covered edge-to-edge in a criss-cross scale pattern. That tail shape is the tell across this entire set — cover it up, and the two beaver pages could otherwise pass for any other rodent here.
What’s in this collection
Four gophers on burrow mounds, fifteen gophers in open scenery, and three pages that aren’t gophers at all — 22 in total, in the grid below. Each has its own Download PDF and Print button, so you can take one page instead of the whole set.
Gophers popping out of burrows and dirt mounds
Four pages show the classic gopher pose: two gophers with their front paws up on a dirt mound in a forest clearing, one gopher popping straight out of a burrow hole and waving with a flower and leaf sprouting from its head, one sitting on a mound behind a wooden fence carved with hearts, and one standing beside a mound wearing glasses and holding a small tool near a potted plant. These are the pages that lean into burrow behavior specifically.
Gophers standing, sitting, and climbing in open scenery
Fifteen pages move the gopher out of the burrow and into a wider scene: two nestled together on twigs and berries, one sitting upright on a pile of rocks under trees, one standing on its hind legs with its nose to the sky between pine trees, one standing tall between two mountains under the sun, one eating what looks like an acorn in a forest clearing, one climbing straight up a tree trunk with a second, smaller animal below it, one crouched and leaping through tall grass, one standing on two legs holding a balloon in front of a house and fence, and one standing on a hillside path near a barn. This is the largest and most varied group in the set.
Two beavers and one animal that isn’t either species
Three pages don’t match the gopher tag. Two are unmistakably beavers: each has a wide, flat, paddle-shaped tail with a criss-cross scale pattern, and one is drawn sitting at a stream with a stick held in its mouth in front of a waterfall, while the other sits in tall grass with the same paddle tail and prominent buck teeth. The third shows an animal with long, floppy rabbit-like ears and a long thin tail, caught mid-run through fallen leaves — its build doesn’t match a gopher, a groundhog, or a beaver anywhere else in this set. We’re printing all three anyway since they were tagged and uploaded as part of this batch, but they aren’t gophers.
How to print these
Every page is US Letter (8.5 × 11 in), pure black and white, with the drawing inside the printable margin. Plain copy paper works for nearly all of the set; the two beaver pages have the densest single detail area — the criss-cross pattern across the tail — so a slightly heavier paper helps there if you’re using a fine-tip pen.
FAQ
Are all 22 pages actually gophers?
No — 19 are gophers or groundhog-style burrowing rodents. Two pages are beavers, identifiable by their flat, paddle-shaped tails, and one page shows a long-eared, long-tailed animal that doesn’t match any of the other species in the set.
Which pages show gophers popping out of burrows?
Four: two gophers with paws on a dirt mound, one popping out of a hole with a flower on its head, one sitting on a mound behind a heart-carved fence, and one standing beside a mound with a gardening tool.
Which two pages are actually beavers?
The two with a flat, paddle-shaped tail — one sitting at a stream with a stick in its mouth in front of a waterfall, the other sitting in tall grass with the same tail shape and prominent front teeth.
Can I download all 22 as one file?
Not as a single file. Each page has its own Download PDF button in the grid, which keeps the files small and lets you build your own selection.
For more free printables in this silo, the turtle coloring pages use a similar mix of simple and detailed designs, and the animals and nature collection holds the rest of the sets like this one.