American Pika ~ Ochotona princeps
Chilling in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO. Copyright Mike Amfahr. Used by permission.
If little girls could really have whatever they wanted for a pet, chances are many would get a pika, a rock-dwelling fuzzball that could pass for an oversized gerbil. Pikas are shy mammals who must have cold environments to survive. They live in rock crevices and burrows, and eat just about anything that grows within their squat reach.
There are several species of pika worldwide, but only two are found in North America: the collared pika and the American pika. While the collared pika is found only in Alaska and Canada, the American ranges throughout the eastern USA living in cool mountain ranges where talus slopes (inclines of broken rock) offer year-round protection from steely-eyed predators like hawks and weasels. Let's take a look at the life of the American pika.
The American pika has round ears that protrude visibly, like Mickey's. It is brown, bearing tints of red or black fur--with a lighter underside--and twice a year it molts. Long whiskers arch from cheeks and eyebrows, framing two beady black eyes that are constantly on vigil. Ochotona princepslives alone, and has "personal space," which it guards from other pikas, especially those of the same sex. For the most part adjacent territories alternate from male to female to male and so on, rather than, say, three males right next to each other. They mark their own territory by rubbing their faces against rocks or other landmarks (your cat has done this to your leg), leaving behind a special scent from a cheek gland. While pikas may warn their neighbors of approaching danger with a call--a short screech like a goat's bleat--they save much of their breath for screaming at each other, telling other pikas to back off, or for males in mating season, to sing a love song. O. princeps females are able to breed when they are a year old, and bear 2-4 young per litter, often two litters a year. Gestation occurs in 30 days, and in as little as a month the rapidly growing pikas may get kicked out of the house.
Amazingly, pikas do not hibernate or store excess body fat, but rely on a steady supply of plant material to get through the deadness of winter. In or around their tunnels they build "haystacks," mounds of twigs and stems cut and carefully stacked in piles bigger than the pikas themselves. One American pika was found with a haystack two feet high! In late winter when haystacks dwindle, the pika will burrow through the snow in search of bark, seeds, or whatever else it can find. Pikas leave pellet-shaped droppings like a rabbit, often only in one designated place, and like rabbits, they are coprophagous--they'll eat their own droppings if necessary. This presumably helps them retain needed vitamins.
It is said that if you visit pika territory in the winter, you can hear them calling from their caverns beneath the snow. --Maybe calling to their neighbors, maybe warning of your approach. Or perhaps, just entertaining themselves.
- Taxonomy: Kingdom Animalia; Phylum Chordata; Subphylum Vertebrata; Class Mammalia; Order Lagomorpha; Family Ochotonidae; Genus Ochotona; Species Ochotona princeps
- Status: The American pika is common and is divided into about 36 subspecies, which all have slight variations and are found in individual locations. They range in mountainous regions of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, California, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Washington, British Columbia, and Alberta, Canada.
- Links: Pika Project ~ Dr. Lennie Rue on pikas ~ Pika call from Nature Songs (audio) ~ Pikas losing homes to heat ~ FLPA pika photos
Add your comment. This Biofile was written by Daniel James Devine.
Recommended Resources
The Little Known Pika