![]() They're individually territorial but form loose "colonies" of a handful of animals that sound vocal alarms to help warn each other when predators or threats like other trespassing pikas come around. Unlike most rabbits and hares, pikas often use a variety of loud vocalizations to communicate with each other. These chemicals aren't great for the pika's digestive systems in large quantities, but when the toxins decay over time in hay piles (the piles of plant matter pikas collect and store for their winter food supply), they act as an antimicrobial agents, helping to preserve the plant biomass over winter. Some populations of pikas tend to cache, or store, plants high in phenolic toxins - the same chemicals that make red wine and coffee taste astringent. They even make two kinds of poop - one dry pellet they leave behind, and one softer, more nutrient-rich one they save as a snack for later. ![]() Pikas will eventually eat these plants in late winter after the toxins break down.American pikas spend their days mowing the grass in montane meadows, providing meals for owls and weasels and, like all lagomorphs, eating their own feces. The toxins act like a natural preservative that make the plants last longer. OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Pikas will cache plants with high concentrations of toxic chemicals in the haypiles that sustain them during the winter months. In the Great Basin, average elevations of pika populations have risen as much as 900 feet (275 meters) in recent decades, lower elevation sites have been lost, and nine of 25 historic pika populations have recently been extirpated. POPULATION TREND: Studies of American pika populations in the Great Basin range of Nevada and southern Oregon and in the Sierra Nevada range of California have found recent population losses, resulting in upslope shifts in range. The range of potential pika habitat is expected to shift upslope in response to increasing temperatures. In addition, projected increases in temperatures, increases in droughts and floods, reduced snowpack leading to “false spring” conditions, and earlier seasonal runoff may significantly alter the composition, biomass, water content, reliability, and phenology of vegetation in alpine habitat. Global warming represents the gravest threat to the long-term survival of the American pika by increasing the average air temperature and the frequency of high-temperature events, which can cause pika mortality from overheating. THREATS: Major threats include climate change, livestock grazing, and human disturbance. Different plants are harvested at different times, as the nutritional value for the plants changes throughout the growing season. They collect vegetation and store it in haypiles as a food source for the winter months. LIFE CYCLE: American pikas can live to be seven years old.įEEDING: American pikas are generalist herbivores most water needs are met through consumed plants. Pikas are born blind and helpless pups open their eyes at nine days old and generally head out on their own by four weeks old. Females bear one or two litters of two to four pups. They are known to disperse as far as two kilometers, and historically may have dispersed as far as 20 kilometers.īREEDING: Pikas form mated pairs each spring before snowmelt. MIGRATION: The American pika does not migrate, but juveniles may disperse to new habitat or nearby populations. Pikas inhabit mountainous regions throughout the western United States and Canada: the Rocky Mountains from northern New Mexico to central British Columbia, the Great Basin, and the Sierra Nevada of California through the Cascade Range of Oregon and Washington. RANGE: The American pika is broken into 36 subspecies based on geography and assumed metapopulation structure. HABITAT: American pikas primarily live in rocky talus slopes near alpine meadows, but are sometimes found at rocky areas along streams and in lava fields adjacent to appropriate vegetation. The animal is generally egg-shaped, with rounded ears, short legs, and no visible tail. It is about six to eight inches long and weighs four to six ounces. American pikas have historically also been referred to by such common names as cony, rock rabbit, mouse hare, whistling hare, and piping hare.ĭESCRIPTION: The American pika is a small, herbivorous mammal with thick, light brown fur. The species name princeps comes from the Latin word for chief, referring to the Chipewyan Indian name for the pika: “little chief hare.” The word pika comes from the name used by the Tunguses tribe in northeast Siberia. When not defending themselves, pikas spend much of their time. The genus name Ochotona stems from the Mongolian word for pikas, ochodona. Pikas are vocal animals, and will use a sharp call or whistle to warn others of danger.
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