Species group · Mammals
WAnimals has 2 species of pika, in the family Ochotonidae.
Ranges calculated from the profiles that record the figure, not from all 2.
Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.
No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.
Recorded in 13 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:
It cuts grass in summer and leaves it to dry in the sun in tidy little heaps, a hoarding habit that has earned it the nickname "farmer of the steppe".
From Pallas's Pika
Pikas are not rodents but lagomorphs, that is, close relatives of rabbits and hares, with which they share a second pair of incisors behind the first.
From Pallas's Pika
It is one of the mammals most often cited as an indicator of climate change: since it cannot tolerate heat and lives on isolated summits, it has nowhere higher to go when its mountain warms, and several populations in the Great Basin have already died out locally.
From American Pika
It cuts and dries grass in the sun into haypiles that can weigh several kilos, and defends its heap with squeaks against any neighbour that tries to steal from it.
From American Pika