Ili pika: description, photo, lifestyle in the natural environment

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

There is a creature on Earth that few people know about. This animal is very rare and listed as an endangered species. This is an Ili pika, the photo of which is presented in the article. She is sometimes called the "magic rabbit" or haystack.

Ili pika is an animal of the genus of mammals of the pika family, where it is the only one and numbering 31 species. This beautiful unusual animal has not been seen for over 20 years.

Ili pika: description

There are 31 types of pikas. The largest is not enough space in the palm of an adult, but the smallest of them can feel comfortable even on the palm of a small child. The appearance of the "magic rabbit" is very reminiscent of hamsters.

These animals, closely related to hares, have a body length of 18-20 cm and a weight of 75-290 g, depending on the species. The tail of pikas is completely inconspicuous, its length is no more than two centimeters. Their ears are rounded and short. The legs of pikas are almost the same in length, except that the hind legs are slightly longer than the front ones. They perform the function of movingthrough tight, sometimes vertical cracks located in the rocks, and also needed for digging holes.

The pads of the fingers are bare, sometimes covered with hairs. Summer fur has a monochromatic color: gray, brown, red, sandy. In winter, the coat is slightly lighter, gray tones predominate.

Habitat

The best habitat for pikas are places where a cold climate prevails. There are species for which rocky mountainous areas are suitable, where there are many cracks on the slopes. There, some Ili pikas dig holes; for other species, this is an excellent refuge from predators. Big-eared and red pikas often settle in large-stony talus, Altai sometimes inhabit the roots of trees and heaps of deadwood.

Several types of haystacks have chosen the steppe as their place of residence. The following pikas are considered steppe inhabitants: Mongolian, Daurian, black-lipped, steppe. Ili pikas are colonial creatures, they live in entire settlements, in which sometimes there are from several tens to thousands of wonderful animals.

Habitats

This cute-looking "teddy bear" only made itself known in 1983, when it was discovered by a conservationist. There are dozens of species of pikas, whose habitats are different parts of our planet. Most of them are found in Asia, only two species are found in North America, only one species has entered European countries. About a thousand of these tiny animals live in the Tien Shan mountains, in northeast China, at an altitude of 2800-4100 meters.

Nextthe mission, when the Ili pika was captured by the camera, ended successfully only in the summer of 2014. This happened on the territory of the Ili-Kazakh Autonomous Region in China. Various media reports were sent about the discovery, in which environmentalists urged the population to stand up for the protection of unique representatives of the fauna. The reason for the decline in the population of individuals was climatic anomalies, as well as the excessive use of forest land by people for agricultural purposes.

Ili pika: lifestyle

I wonder why the Ili pika has a second name haystack? This was facilitated by one peculiar feature inherent in these individuals - to make hay for the winter period. The whole harvesting process is very smooth and smart. Pikas first cut the grass, then lay it out for further drying, choosing sunny places. If it rains, the grass stalks are hidden. Ready hay is placed in the cracks between the stones, sometimes stacked. Animals do not hibernate in winter.

How much do we know about these little animals? What do they have in common with rabbits? The most significant similarity can be noted: for some and others, the main food is woody, herbaceous stems, branches of shrubs and tree bark. Often, both the hare and the Ili pika use lichens and moss for food. For them, such a diet is equally suitable.

One of the characteristic features that the Ili pika has is its sonorous squeak, with which it warns other individuals of dangers. Pika got its name because of thesefar audible signals. Its lifespan is high compared to other steppe small animal species.

The Ili pika leads an active lifestyle both during the day and at night. The female starts mating in early May, and in early June she already brings her first litter. The offspring grows very slowly, the reason for this is the food supply. There are some females that do not mate, some give only one litter for the whole season.

Environmentalists gave the name "magic rabbit" pika due to the fact that it very rarely falls into the field of human vision. This cutest animal in the whole world is currently on the verge of extinction.