The pika has been described as the cutest mammal in the world. Weighing about 5 ounces, it has a hamster-like body, and the face of a rabbit. Although superficially appearing to be a rodent, pikas are not related to rodents. Rather, they are members of the mammalian Order Lagamorpha that includes rabbits and hares.
Sometimes referred to as rock rabbits, pikas make their homes in talus slopes found at the highest elevations in western North America, Asia, and parts of Eastern Europe. In the Northern Rockies, including the Cabinet Mountains, they can be found scurrying along rock strewn cliff faces that are in some of the wildest and most remote areas.
Like rabbits and hares, pikas are herbivores. Their favorite foods include grasses, sedges, twigs from shrubs commonly found in boulder fields, and flowering plants such as fireweed. Active during the winter months, pikas harvest plant material in the summer and fall and cure it to last through the winter. The hay is stashed in piles under overhanging rocks and in crevices. Although some of the plants contain toxins, the toxins help keep the hay from spoiling and break down over time rendering the plants safe to eat. Pikas know which plants contain toxins and these are eaten last. Hay piles are closely guarded from neighboring pikas that occasionally raid each others stashes.
Pikas live in large colonies and communicate with several types of vocalizations including a warning call that can accurately be described as eek. This is given at the approach of aerial predators including hawks, eagles, and owls.
Young pikas are born in May and June. Females produce two litters a year with two to six young per litter. The young mature in less than two months and live an average of three years.
Pikas appear to be intolerant of warm temperatures and their distribution is limited by the occurrence of rock talus and boulder fields at upper elevations. There is evidence that global climate change is pushing them to ever increasing elevations and towards eventual extinction.
Pikas Denied Protection Under ESA
In 2009, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) denied a petition to list the pika under the Endangered Species Act. A listing of threatened or endangered would have established protections for this small mammal that has lost much of its habitat from warming of the mountain west. The pika would have been the first species listed under the ESA due to the impacts of climate change. In denying protection for the pika, the USFWS admitted that the numbers of pikas are declining but asserted that the pika would either adjust to the warmer temperatures or move to higher elevations. The assertion that pikas will adjust to warmer temperatures is scientifically unfounded and based purely on wishful thinking. They may be no more able than polar bears to adjust to warmer temperatures. Unfortunately, high elevation habitat is limited, and, if suitable, it is likely already occupied by pikas. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking for this species, and if their downward trend continues, it may not be possible to reverse it in time.