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Pika
Also called: Little Chief Hare, Cony.
Images coming soon.
- Length
- 7 inches.
- Description
- Allied to the rabbits in structure, but in external appearance more rat-like. Legs very short, all about the same length, feet padded on the soles, no external tail, ears large, fur thick brown above, blackish on the back, yellower on the head, below grayish; ears short, edged with white, feet white.
- Range
- Northern Rocky Mountains, allied species in Colorado, Northern California, Alaska, etc.
These curious little animals occur only in the northern part of Asia and Alaska and southward on the higher mountain slopes. Their haunts are rock slides where they find shelter in the numerous holes and crevices among the boulders and fallen debris. Dr. Merriam states that they run with great rapidity for an animal with such short legs, travelling considerable distances from their dens to their feeding ground. They work diligently through the day gathering various favourite alpine plants, which are piled up among the rocks forming veritable hay-stacks for their winter use. They are watchful and alert, giving vent to their shrill bleating call when a stranger approaches the vicinity of one of their colonies, dashing into their retreats only to emerge again to see if the intruder has departed. They seem never to become plump and fat and their emaciated appearance has gained for them the name of "starved rats" among the miners of certain regions.
At any rate they are harmless little beasts and will well repay the naturalist who may visit their remote habitat and make a careful study of them, and being one of those "connecting links" in nature's chain everything we learn about them seems to possess a peculiar interest.