Critter of the Month: Pika

EEP! EEP!!!!!

My head swivels to pinpoint the sound. Out of the corner of my eye I detect some scurrying and spot it - a potato-sized ball of fur adorned with Mickey Mouse ears. A pika! One of my very favorite mountain creatures, the American pika, Ochotona princeps, is a charmer. Super active and animated, they always make me smile as they scamper and dash, sometimes popping up right below my feet.

Although they look sort of squirrel-like, pika are actually members of the rabbit family. Look - and listen - for pika in high elevation talus slopes, those hillsides of overlapping rocks that provide a million hidey holes and runways that provide protection from most predators. Because they blend in so well, listening for their calls is key to pika spotting. Once you find them, it’s fun to watch their ongoing game of hide-and-seek, disappearing down a crevice, then re-emerging from another rock gap many yards away.

Pika love loose, rocky slopes

Peek-a-boo pika

Pika Likes: Friends, but not too close! Pika congregate in colonies that they subdivide into their own, actively defended territories.

Pika Dislikes: Heat! Pika like to chill in cold weather and warming climates have pika scientists worried. The best time to glimpse a pika is in the morning or evening when temps are lowest. Read what researchers are learning about how pika are responding to climate change at Mount Rainier National Park.

Pika Super Power: Staying awake under the snow through the long bitter alpine winter. Pika don’t hibernate. Instead they live buried beneath the snow in their warren of tunnels through the talus slopes, feeding on stashed “hay piles” of plants industriously gathered over the summer.

Pika using every opportunity to add greens to her haystack before being buried for the winter

Read more about pika research at Mount Rainier National Park.

And check out the video below for a dose of adorable EEP-ing! Bet you can’t not smile…