Only addressing climate change itself can mitigate the threat to pikas. The pika’s cuteness might help galvanize public opinion, but there is no way to build a higher mountain. It has brightly colored hair and displays large rusty-red spots on forehead, crown, and the sides of the neck. It is large for a pika, with a length of 20.320.4 centimetres (8.08.0 in) and a weight of up to 250 grams (0.55 lb). Will that be enough for mountain species? An anthropogenic food source probably won’t help the pika, which are limited to very particular rocky slopes, but other at-risk mountain species may have a limited path forward. The Ili pika somewhat resembles a short-eared rabbit. However, campgrounds and agricultural fields provide a dependable food source for the squirrels, allowing a population to persist at lower elevations. It has brightly colored hair and displays large rusty-red spots on the forehead, crown, and the sides of the neck. The Ili pika somewhat resembles a short-eared rabbit. After its discovery in 1983, it was not documented again until 2014. Ground squirrel populations have declined in California, and upper slope populations have been retreating to higher elevations. The Ili pika is an endangered mammal native to northwest China. Research in ground squirrels suggests relief may come from an unlikely source: human development. Will montane species eventually become extinct? It’s too soon to say. The threat was perceived to be great enough that the American Pika was one of the first species considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act exclusively as a result of climate change. Ultimately, it was not listed under the ESA on the grounds that they still have plenty of habitat.
Pikas have been retreating upslope in response to warmer temperatures, but eventually they will be unable to go higher. Global Times Photo Li Weidong giving a speech. For the next 35 years, he has devoted himself to the protection and conservation of the shrinking species, which numbers fewer than 1,000 in China. What makes pikas and other montane species so vulnerable to a changing climate is that they have nowhere to go. In 1983, Li discovered the Ili pika, a furry mouse-like animal from the pika family, in the rocks of the Tianshan Mountains. Increased rain can also freeze a layer of ice over the snow, preventing the pikas from accessing their vegetation stash. When the snowpack is reduced due to climate change, pikas get caught out in the open and freeze. The pikas make their burrows in holes underneath the snow. The bigger threat, though, seems like a paradox: climate change is causing pikas to freeze to death. It has such a high metabolism that even during a short period of above-average temperatures, the little creatures can overheat and die from hyperthermia. The pika spends the summer stocking up on vegetation, which it will use for food and warmth throughout the winter. The pika’s cuteness might help galvanize public opinion.
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