American Pikas are small members of the Lagomorph order which is the same order that includes rabbits. Contrary to their appearance, Pikas are not rodents. American Pikas live in rocky tundra habitats above the tree line where they forage and store vegetation to feed on through the long winter months. They live in highly social groups and give a variety of barking calls back and forth to other individuals. If you watch Pikas long enough, you can learn the typical routes that they take from their foraging areas to the rocky crevices where they store their food. I watched this Pika for awhile before I picked a location to sit. Once I sat at the location for about 20 minutes they were completely adjusted to my presence and resumed their foraging activities.
Research published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment last month that examines how wildlife adapts to the impacts of global climate change focuses on the American pika, a small, tailless mammal that exhibits a range of adaptive behavioral changes, as a case study. The authors of the study note that there are […]
Closely related to the rabbit, pikas call high mountain peaks their home. Some populations reside within the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California and Nevada. A key characteristic of the American...
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These little critters didn't take any flower arranging courses. They're just natural florists!
These scrappy scramblers are built for life in the mountains, but the living isn’t always easy. ...
An American Pika (ochotona princeps) with flowers, Summit County, Loveland Pass, Colorado, USA, 78c8f827d9a82c763fd2f69afcbb053b 46967a77a8788066b589c280361ec6c0
The American Pika is a small mammal that lives in the alpine area at the tops of the Rocky Mountains. Here is some basic information about this mammal.
The American pika is a charismatic, diminutive relative of rabbits that some researchers say is at high risk of extinction due to climate change. Pikas typically live in cool habitats, often in mountains, under rocks and boulders. Because pikas are sensitive to high temperatures, some researchers predict that, as the Earth's temperature rises, pikas will have to move ever higher elevations until they eventually run out of habitat and die out. Some scientists have claimed this cute little herbivore is the proverbial canary in the coal mine for climate change.
American Pika - Rocky Mountain National Park
A very large team of researchers from across the U.S. along with a few from Canada and Australia has found that geography is playing more of a role in how the American pika is responding to climate change than genetics. In their paper published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the group describes their exhaustive study of the small animal and what they found. Meagan Oldfather with the University of Colorado Boulder has published a News & Views piece in the same journal issue outlining the work by the team.
Mammals come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, looking absolutely gorgeous and amazing. Here are some rare and cute mammals you've never seen before.
American Pika, courtesy of Dick Terpstra (public domain). The High-Altitude "Haymaker" Pikas are small, cold-loving mammals that inhabit high-elevation regions all over the world, including the Himalayas and mountain ranges in Eurasia. The American Pika lives in the mountains of North America. Adapted to a narrow set of living condition, pikas do not hibernate but
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The American pika is a comparatively smaller and cuter relative of the lagomorph family of hares and rabbits. These innocent mountain rodents thrive best in cold climates and prefer to dwell in high altitude mountains and alpine meadows especially of the American west. Strict herbivores, these American pikas are hardworking animals that are often spotted […]
Wildlife Photo of the Day - October 18, 2016: A pika sunning itself in Rocky Mountain National Park.
American Pika Feeding on Grass Stems in Yoho National Park by Lee Rentz on Flickr.
Even core areas of pika habitat 'are vulnerable to climate change within a timeframe of decades,' researchers say.
Rocky Mountain National Park provides habitat for not one, but two subspecies of the American pika, a species thought to be closely connected with climate change, according to a new study.
American Pika, courtesy of Dick Terpstra (public domain). The High-Altitude "Haymaker" Pikas are small, cold-loving mammals that inhabit high-elevation regions all over the world, including the Himalayas and mountain ranges in Eurasia. The American Pika lives in the mountains of North America. Adapted to a narrow set of living condition, pikas do not hibernate but
Small, cute, and cuddly-looking; ironically, American pikas are one of North America's toughest creatures! Find out why.
The Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is a medium-sized lagomorph (c140g) that occurs mainly on the high desert plateaux of China, but also in Tibet, Pakistan, India and Nepal. They look a bit like Gerbils but are in the same family as rabbits and hares, but have oddly human ears. It gets really cold in winter on the Tibetan Plateau yet they do not hibernate, being active year round. They are also only active during the day when they feed on grasses and sedges, sleeping in their burrows at night. They also occur in extraordinary abundance and are the main prey item for most of the predators that occur on the plateaux (Tibetan Fox, Pallas's Cat, Chinese Mountain Cat, Saker Falcon, Upland Buzzard, Steppe Eagle, Eagle Owl). I photographed this courting couple in the snow at Rouergai nearly 4000m on the Tibetan Plateau. There was a blanket of snow on the ground but they prepare for that by keeping a store of hay in their burrows, to get them through the times when snow covers their feeding grounds.
These lovely tiny animals live high in the mountains and don't love the heat. If you've never heard about pikas, you just need to see these cute pictures and learn some basic facts about them.
