FOR AGES 3 YEARS TO 18 YEARS
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Kidadl provides inspiration to entertain and educate your children. We recognise that not all activities and ideas are appropriate and suitable for all children and families or in all circumstances. Our recommended activities are based on age but these are a guide. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability.
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People are not that aware that there are many small species of animals that surround us. One of the many types of mammals is pikas. These small animals are the mountain-dwelling species that are mostly found in the cold season of America and Asia and are not that rare. There are 30 species of pika that are found in the world, but two are most famous among them. Those species is alpine pika (Ochotona alpina) and American pika (Ochotona princeps).
German botanist and zoologist, Peter Simon Pallas, initially defined the alpine pika in 1773 in his work (Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs). It is a huge species within the pika family which includes small mammals which have short ears, forelimbs barely longer than hind limbs, and it has no external tail at all.
Here on our page, we have lots of interesting facts on the alpine pika for everyone to enjoy. Let's have a look at these interesting facts, and if you do like these, you can read our collared pika and Bornean orangutan facts too.
The alpine pika is a small and tiny mountain-dwelling species of mammals that are very similar to rabbits and hares.
The alpine pika is a tiny species of animal that belongs to the class of Mammalia, the family of Ochotonidae, and the genus of Ochotona.
The exact populations of the alpine pikas are not known to the world yet. But despite the lack of information, they are on the Least Concern list of animals which indicates that their population is stable and they are safe on this earth.
The alpine pikas live in Asian countries like western Kazakhstan, Mongolia, north China, and some range of Western Russian regions like Krasnoyarsk, Tuva, Altai, and Irkutsk. Unlike the alpine pika, the American pika (Ochotona princeps) is found in the North-western American range like Alberta and British Columbia.
The alpine pika's habitat is the winter and cold climate areas like the rocky areas, mountains, talus, vegetation meadows behind the rock piles surrounding the cliffs. This high-pitched pika family is well adapted to cold and winter climate temperatures and cannot survive in the very hot and summer climate temperatures. Because of this reason, the pikas live in the rocky talus mountains and habitat, which are fully isolated and at an elevation of 9842 ft (2999.8 m) high.
The alpine pika creates their own territory where they live with their family. The pikas create a small group of pikas that contains males, females as well as young pikas. As they survive on the high elevation rocky and cold in temperatures mountains, no humans are found in that diversity. That is why they create territory and continue to live in their own areas of rocky mountains.
The average lifespan of the alpine pikas is up to three to four years in total.
The alpine pikas breed twice a year, in both the summer and winter temperatures. After the mating process, the gestation period follows for around one month, and after that, the three to four young babies are born. The young pikas soon adapt to the winter and summer seasons, depending on which season they are born. It is difficult for young babies in winter, but they eventually get acclimated to the climate.
The conservation status of the alpine pikas is listed as the Least Concern species by the IUCN and National Wildlife Service. Although there is no major information about their growth, their populations are still stable as of now. But the other pika species, American pika, are listed as Endangered by the National Wildlife services and IUCN as their growth is declining because of the increase in Global Warming.
The alpine pikas are small mammal species that are similar in size to rabbits and hares. These pikas are cinnamon and dark brown in color with yellow-gray color back with a thick coat of fur on the body. The middle part of the body is rusty red in color with yellow undersides. The ears are round in shape, while the skull is narrow and longer than the American pika.
Squirrels and rabbits are cute little wildlife creatures, and so are alpine pikas. They are an adorable species that anyone wants to hold and cuddle.
The communication strategy that all the pikas, whether alpine pika or the American pika, use is by producing the high-pitched call as well as songs which they sing. This vocalization is used to attract mates and to alert their families about the predators. The call of these pikas, especially the American pika is so loud that they can be heard before they are seen.
The average size that all the pikas, whether the alpine or American pika, can be is around 6-9.3 in (15.2-23.6 cm) in length. These creatures are much smaller than the European rabbit, which is 15.7 in (39.8 cm).
The speed that an alpine pika can run is not estimated yet. No information tells us about the speed of alpine pikas, but it is stated that the American pika can up to the speed of 15 mph (24.1 kph).
The average weight that alpine pikas can be is up to 0.5-0.7 lb (226.7-317.5 g) in total.
There are no such specific names for the male and female species of the alpine pikas. There is no particular differentiation between both sexes.
There is no particular name that the baby alpine pika is known as. They are just called young pika.
The alpine pikas are herbivores, so the food that makes their diet are small grasses, plants, sedges, fireweed, thistles. Anything related to vegetation and grasses and flowers is the main food for them. For the winter season, these creatures prefer to collect their food in hay piles so that they can easily spend their season. They fulfill their water requirement by eating the vegetation, but they also drink water when available.
The pikas, whether they are American pika or alpine, are not dangerous creatures to humans. Yes, they sometimes show aggressive behavior but only when they feel threatened, or someone is in their territory, but other than that, they are peaceful creatures.
Pikas are not a good pet to a human. The reason is that these creatures cannot survive in hot temperatures and can die easily. Other than that, these creatures are not made for household life.
The special thing that pikas have is that they can also communicate with the use of scent markings. It means that they can deposit their scents someplace, which works as the signal for the other pikas.
The characteristic that makes pikas unique from other animals is that they are the animals that are active all the time. Whether it is the day or dawn or summer or winter, they do not hibernate and continue to collect their food. These creatures only sleep at night like all mammals.
The famous predators of the pikas are the coyotes, hawks, and weasels. As pikas are small creatures, they can get easily targeted by large animals.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these gopher facts and eastern harvest mouse facts for kids.
You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Alpine pika coloring pages.
Read The Disclaimer
At Kidadl we pride ourselves on offering families original ideas to make the most of time spent together at home or out and about, wherever you are in the world. We strive to recommend the very best things that are suggested by our community and are things we would do ourselves - our aim is to be the trusted friend to parents.
We try our very best, but cannot guarantee perfection. We will always aim to give you accurate information at the date of publication - however, information does change, so it’s important you do your own research, double-check and make the decision that is right for your family.
Kidadl provides inspiration to entertain and educate your children. We recognise that not all activities and ideas are appropriate and suitable for all children and families or in all circumstances. Our recommended activities are based on age but these are a guide. We recommend that these ideas are used as inspiration, that ideas are undertaken with appropriate adult supervision, and that each adult uses their own discretion and knowledge of their children to consider the safety and suitability.
Kidadl cannot accept liability for the execution of these ideas, and parental supervision is advised at all times, as safety is paramount. Anyone using the information provided by Kidadl does so at their own risk and we can not accept liability if things go wrong.
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