A few burrowing species are instead native to open steppe land. Most species live on rocky mountain sides, where there are numerous crevices to shelter in, although some also construct crude burrows. In North America, they are found at higher elevations throughout the inter-montane west and in the mountains of Alaska and the Yukon (Smith 2004).
The steppe pika (Ochotona pusilla) goes as far west as the Ural Mountains and there is one population to the west of these mountains that can be considered as European. They are found throughout central Asia, in the Himalayan massif and associated ranges, and from eastern Siberia to Sakhalin Island and to Hokkaido Island in Japan. Pikas are native to cold climates, mostly in Asia, North America, and parts of eastern Europe. Like rabbits, after eating, pikas initially produce soft green feces, which they eat again to extract further nutrition, before producing the final, solid, fecal pellets. Most pikas have a brownish gray fur.Īs with other lagomorphs, pikas have gnawing incisors and no canines, although they have fewer premolars than rabbits, giving them a dental formula of: They are about 18 to 20 centimeters (7-8 inches) in body length, with a tail less than 2 centimeters long (less than one inch). Pikas range in weight from just 80 grams (3 ounces) for the Gansu pika (Ochotonoa cansus) to 300 grams (10 ounces) for the Glover's pika (O. They look like "small egg-shaped balls of fluff sporting thin, relatively large round ears" (Smith 2004). Pikas are small hamster-like animals, with short limbs, rounded ears, and short tails that are not visible beneath the fur. Currently, thirty species of pikas are recognized (Smith 2004). While molecular techniques help in clarifying pika systematics, there remains much taxonomic uncertainly. Differentiating pika species on the basis of external characters is difficult because of their close resemblance (Smith 2004). Only one extant genus, Ochotona, is recognized within the family. The name pika (archaically spelled pica) is used for any member of the Ochotonidae. Based on molecular evidence, it is believed that these two families separated about 37 million years ago, in the early Oligocene. The rabbit order, Lagomorpha, consists of two extant families, the pikas in Ochotonidae and the rabbits and hares in Leporidae. In addition, these small balls of fluff add to the human wonder of nature, both through their unique form and their unique behaviors-such as their alarm calls to warn of predators (which varies whether the predator is a surface-feeding marten or a weasel that can pursue the pika into its lair) or their characteristic of gathering and drying of vegetation to store in a centralized cache for food during the winter. However, their soft feces have been used as a folk medicine in central Asia (Smith 2004). For humans, their economic value is minimal, although their furs have been used to make felt. Pikas provide important ecological functions as part of food chains, consuming a variety of plant matter and being preyed upon by weasels and martens. Other common names for members of this family are mouse hare, rock rabbit, and coneys, as well as whistling hare due to its high-pitched alarm call when diving into its burrow. There is one extant genus, Ochotonoa, with about thirty species. Pikas are found in the mountains and steppe of central Asia and the mountains of eastern Europe and western North America. Pika is the common name for small mammals comprising the family Ochotonidae of the rabbit order Lagomorpha, characterized by relatively large round ears, the lack of a visible tail, similar length of the forelimbs and hindlimbs, and smaller size than the related rabbit.
American pika (Ochotona princeps) in Sequoia National Park