The Afghan pika (''Ochotona rufescens'') is a species of small mammal in the pika family, Ochotonidae. It is found in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

and

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

and the IUCN lists it as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

Taxonomy

The Afghan pika was first described by

John Edward Gray John Edward Gray, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for ...

in 1842, the type locality being "India, Cabul, Rocky Hills near Baker Tomb at about 6000 or 8000 feet a. 1829 or 2438 melevation", (probably referring to Kabul in Afghanistan). Three subspecies are recognised, ''Ochotona r. rufescens'', ''Ochotona r. regina'' and ''Ochotona r. shukurovoi''.

Description

The Afghan pika is a

lagomorph The lagomorphs are the members of the taxonomic order Lagomorpha, of which there are two living families: the Leporidae (hares and rabbits) and the Ochotonidae (pikas). The name of the order is derived from the Ancient Greek ''lagos'' (λαγ� ...

, a small mammal related to rabbits and hares, and has a small head with rounded ears, short, densely furred legs and furred soles to the feet. The fur is reddish-brown with a cream-coloured collar round the neck and paler underparts.

Distribution and habitat

The Afghan pika occurs in mountainous regions of

and southwestern

at altitudes between . It is found in rocky desert habitats where vegetation cover is sparse and covers less than 60% of the ground, also in juniper woodland.

Behaviour

The Afghan pika lives in a burrow system. It is diurnal, with peak activity during the morning.Aulagnier S.; P. Haffner, A. J. Mitchell-Jones, F. Moutou & J. Zima (2009) ''Mammals of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East'', A&C Black, London. It feeds on plant material including ''

Ephedra Ephedra may refer to: * Ephedra (medicine), a medicinal preparation from the plant ''Ephedra sinica'' * ''Ephedra'' (plant), genus of gymnosperm shrubs See also * Ephedrine Ephedrine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is of ...

'', '' Artemisia'' and

thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves ...

s. Some stems and leaves are cut into lengths and dried in the open air before being stored in the burrow. The breeding season lasts from March to September during which time a female may have five litters averaging six offspring. Juveniles born early in the season mature fast enough to have young themselves the same year.

Status

The Afghan pika has a wide range and the population appears to be steady. Although it typically lives in rocky semi-desert habitat, it is able to adapt to living at the edge of cultivated land, in orchards and even in field walls and the walls of houses made of adobe. In some regions it is considered a pest as it feeds on crops and damages the bark of fruit trees, and in these areas it may be persecuted. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

has listed the animal as being of "

" but an isolated population on the Small Balkhan Ridge may be endangered. The animal has been domesticated and used in research, particularly in France and Japan.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1321102 Mammals described in 1842 Taxa named by John Edward Gray Fauna of Iran Mammals of Afghanistan Mammals of Pakistan Pikas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot