Let’s talk about the smallest rabbit in the world: the pika. The size of the pika is very small, generally only ten centimeters, and the largest is less than 30 centimeters. Usually, the weight of an adult pika is only about 100 grams, which is the smallest among wild rabbits. With round ears and small black eyes like buttons, pikas look a bit like voles in terms of body size, but in biological classification, they belong to the order Lagos and Pika family.
There are 30 known species of pika, which mainly live in the grasslands of the plateau. There are 2 species in North America, namely North American pika and spot-necked pika; 1 species in Europe, namely alpine pika; the remaining 27 species are in Asia, inhabiting between 90 and 4000 meters above sea level. Among them, there are 24 species of pika in my country, mainly distributed in Northeast China, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet and other places. type. Among them, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the most concentrated, with as many as 14 species.
Unlike other rabbits, pikas are good at singing, so they are also called squirrels; because of the tan, tawny, reddish-brown, taupe, and stone-colored fur It is similar, so it is also called Stone Rabbit; it is pronounced “Abuza” in Tibetan.
Pikas are easy-going animals that often settle in rock crevices. . Because they live in high latitudes all year round, pikas have dense and thick fur and strong cold resistance. Even when the ground temperature drops to minus 20 degrees Celsius, they still go out for food despite the cold.
In the process of observing the habits of pikas, scientists found that the burrows of pikas often have small birds that are common in the grasslands. Birds avoid strong sunlight or severe weather such as blizzards and hail in pika’s burrows; pikas use the chirping of birds as alarms to avoid danger; birds and mice share the same burrow, which can be described as a model of harmonious coexistence of different species.
