The character of Samuel J. Gopher first appeared in the 1966 Disney animated film Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. He has a habit of whistling out his sibilant consonants, and was fleshed out a bit further in the television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. He is portrayed as generally hard-working, especially in his tunnels (which he inevitably falls into at least once). He does not appear in the original books by A. A. Milne, a fact that is regularly pointed out in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh when he says he's "not in the book", as he was originally intended to replace Piglet. Gopher is inspired from the beaver that appeared in Lady and the Tramp eleven years before - even some of his animation sequences were actually a reused footage of the Beaver (during his conversation with Owl for example).
Since gophers are found only in America, it may be thought strange that he would appear in a story set in England. On the other hand, tigers and kangaroos are not indigenous to England either. Living animals such as Rabbit were based on animals at A. A. Milne's local zoo[citation needed], while the rest of the animals (excluding Gopher who was not in the books) were all based on A. A. Milne's son's childhood toys. Gopher's voice was originally done by Howard Morris, who retired from the role and was replaced by Michael Gough.
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