Alpine pika
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The alpine pika (''Ochotona alpina'') is a species of small
mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
in the
pika A pika ( or ; archaically spelled pica) is a small, mountain-dwelling mammal found in Asia and North America. With short limbs, very round body, an even coat of fur, and no external tail, they resemble their close relative, the rabbit, but wi ...
family, Ochotonidae. The summer
pelage Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily #Guard hair, guard hair on top and thick #Down hair, underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as ...
of different subspecies varies drastically but, in general, it is dark or cinnamon brown, turning to grey with a yellowish tinge during the
winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...
. The alpine pika is found in western Mongolia, eastern Kazakhstan, and Russia (
Tuva Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...
,
Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...
, Altai, and
Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yeni ...
), as well as in China (northern
Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
and
Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...
), in very cold, mountainous regions. It is a generalist
herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...
, and mainly forages on
moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...
es, tree branches,
pine nuts Pine nuts, also called piñón (), pinoli (), pignoli or chilgoza (), are the edible seeds of pines (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus''). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are trade ...
, and
plant stem A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant, the other being the root. It supports leaves, flowers and fruits, transports water and dissolved substances between the roots and the shoots in the xylem and phloem, stores nutrien ...
s. It can emit three series of different vocalizations: a long call, a short call, and an alarm call. It is rated as a species 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 ...
on the
IUCN Red List of Endangered Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...
.


Taxonomy

German
zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
and
botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
Peter Simon Pallas Peter Simon Pallas Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (22 September 1741 – 8 September 1811) was a Prussian zoologist and botanist who worked in Russia between 1767 and 1810. Life and work Peter Simon Pallas was born in Berlin, the son ...
originally described the alpine pika in 1773, in his work ''Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs''. It is a large species in the pika family, Ochotonidae, which consists of small mammals that have short ears, forelimbs very slightly longer than hindlimbs, and no external tail. There are four recognised subspecies: ''O. a. alpina'' (Pallas, 1773), ''O. a. cinereofusca'' (Schrenk, 1858), ''O. a. sushkini'' (Thomas, 1924), and ''O. a. changaica'' (Ognev, 1940). The northern pika was included as a subspecies of the alpine pika by several authorities such as Vinogradov and Argyropulo in 1941; Argyropulo in 1948; Gureev in 1964; Corbet in 1978; Honacki, Kinman, and Koeppl in 1982; Weston in 1982; and Feng and Zheng in 1985. However, in 1973, Nikolai Vorontsov and Elena Ivanitskaya, pointed out the difference between their chromosome numbers. In 1980, Vladimir Sokolov and V. N. Orlov treated them as separate species, with their ranges overlapping in the Khenteii and Khangai Mountains in Mongolia. It is believed that after
glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...
, the ancestors of the alpine pika were restricted to the borders of the Sayan and Altai glaciers, as well as the periglacial region of the major North Asiatic glaciation. The
American pika The American pika (''Ochotona princeps''), a diurnality, diurnal species of pika, is found in the mountains of western North America, usually in boulder fields at or above the tree line. They are herbivorous, smaller relatives of rabbits and ha ...
and the
collared pika The collared pika (''Ochotona collaris'') is a species of mammal in the pika family, Ochotonidae, and part of the order Lagomorpha, which comprises rabbits, hares, and pikas. It is a small (about 160 g) alpine lagomorph that lives in bould ...
were also included as subspecies of the alpine pika, by A.I. Argyropulo in 1948, A.A. Gureev in 1964, and G.B. Corbet in 1968. However, in 1981, M.L. Weston found out that they were morphologically different from the alpine pika. In 1986, Corbet and J.E. Hill treated them as separate species. ''O. a. sushkini'' was formerly considered a subspecies of the
Pallas's pika Pallas's pika (''Ochotona pallasi''), also known as the Mongolian pika, is a species of small mammals in the pika family, Ochotonidae. It is found mainly in the mountains of western Mongolia. Description Pallas's pika can range from anywhere be ...
, but is now a subspecies of the alpine pika. The Helan Shan pika and the
Hoffmann's pika Hoffmann's pika (''Ochotona hoffmanni'') is a species of mammal in the pika family, Ochotonidae, that is endemic to Mongolia. It is currently listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Etymology The word ...
were formerly included as a subspecies of the alpine pika, but are now considered an independent species based on their chromosome number, morphology, and bioacoustic behaviour.


Description

The alpine pika measures in length, has long rounded ears ranging from in length, and weighs . The skull is narrow, measuring in length, and is less rounded and longer than the skull of the northern pika. In addition, the alpine pika has a longer
snout A snout is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a muzzle, rostrum, or proboscis. The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the nose of many mammals is c ...
, the back of the skull is bent more downward, and the bullae are deeper and much narrower, compared to those of the northern pika. The
parietal bone The parietal bones () are two bones in the Human skull, skull which, when joined at a fibrous joint, form the sides and roof of the Human skull, cranium. In humans, each bone is roughly quadrilateral in form, and has two surfaces, four borders, an ...
s (the two bones in the skull, which, when joined together at a 
fibrous joint In anatomy, fibrous joints are joints connected by fibrous tissue, consisting mainly of collagen. These are fixed joints where bones are united by a layer of white fibrous tissue of varying thickness. In the skull the joints between the bones ar ...
, form the sides and roof of the skull) protrude at the front, forming a sloping angle with the
interparietal bone An interparietal bone (os interparietale or Inca bone or ''os inca var.'') is a dermal bone situated between the parietal and supraoccipital. It is homologous to the postparietal bones of other animals. In humans, it corresponds to the upper p ...
(bone situated between the parietal bone and the supraoccipital bone located at the back and lower part of the skull), at the back. It has a large, thick
cheek bone In the human skull, the zygomatic bone (from grc, ζῠγόν, zugón, yoke), also called cheekbone or malar bone, is a paired irregular bone which articulates with the maxilla, the temporal bone, the sphenoid bone and the frontal bone. It is si ...
. The summer pelage of different subspecies varies drastically but is generally dark or cinnamon brown. The back is dull, yellowish, ochre-grey in colour, with dark brown to black tips of the hairs. The latus (side of the body between the rib cage and the uppermost and largest part of the
hip bone The hip bone (os coxae, innominate bone, pelvic bone or coxal bone) is a large flat bone, constricted in the center and expanded above and below. In some vertebrates (including humans before puberty) it is composed of three parts: the Ilium (bone), ...
) is tinged with rust-red, and the underside is pale yellowish ochre. In winter, its pelage turns grey, with a yellowish tinge; the underside becomes greyish brown, and the anterior dorsum and head are tinged with yellow. The
incisive foramen In the human mouth, the incisive foramen (also known as: "''anterior palatine foramen''", or "''nasopalatine foramen''") is the opening of the incisive canals on the hard palate immediately behind the incisor teeth. It gives passage to blood ves ...
(funnel-shaped opening in the bony plate of the skull, located in the roof of the mouth, immediately behind the 
incisor teeth Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, wher ...
 where blood vessels and nerves pass) are round, small, and are detached from the palatine foramen. Despite geographic and seasonal variation, in
sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...
zones, the adult alpine pika is larger than the adult northern pika by body measurements, and is usually more dull coloured.


Distribution and habitat

The alpine pika inhabits mountainous areas in western Mongolia bordering the
Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world. Geography The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast an ...
, eastern Kazakhstan, southern Russia (Tuva, Irkutsk, Altai, and Krasnoyarsk) and China (northern Xinjiang and Heilongjiang). It is found on mountain ranges such as the Altai, Khangai, and Sayan, and is also distributed from the east and south of
Lake Baikal Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...
eastward to the
Amur River The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's List of longest rivers, tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China, Northeastern China (Inne ...
drainage. An isolated alpine pika population occurs at the northwest
Ningxia Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in ...
-
Hexi Zoulang The Hexi Corridor (, Xiao'erjing: حْسِ ظِوْلاْ, International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: Help:IPA/Mandarin, ), also known as the Gansu Corridor, is an important historical region located in the modern western Gansu province of China. It re ...
-
Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...
border, on the
Helan Mountains The Helan Mountains, frequently called Alashan Mountains in older sources, are an isolated desert mountain range forming the border of Inner Mongolia's Alxa League and Ningxia. They run north-south parallel to the north-flowing Yellow River in ...
. ''O. a. cinereofusca'' is found in Heilongjiang and Russia, while ''O. a. nitida'' is found in northern Xinjiang, Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. The animal tends to be found in rocky habitats. It occupies talus piles (collection of broken rock pieces at the base of cliffs, volcanoes, or
valley shoulder A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...
s, accumulated due to periodic rockfall from adjacent cliff faces) with larger stones and rocky areas although it does not inhabit swampy montane tundra or talus lacking vegetation. It may also live in burrows under tree roots or in old moss-scree. The alpine pika's habitat is separated from that of the northern pika by altitude or by microhabitat in their zone of sympatry, and it lives at both higher and lower altitudes than the northern pika. It is found at heights of above sea level in the Altai Mountains, and above in China. In the early 1970s, an unexplained decline in the alpine pika population occurred throughout the western Sayan Mountains. Although in 1977 Khlebnikov suggested it was due to an epidemic, it was difficult to ascertain if such a large territory had been affected all at once. By 1986 or 1987, a few localities that had high alpine pika population densities 16 to 17 years earlier became devoid of the species, due to its low reproductive rate and the insular nature of its habitat.


Behaviour and ecology

The alpine pika is a generalist herbivore, mainly foraging for mosses, trees branches, pine nuts, and plant stems, which it gathers during the summer to create haypiles for use in winter. These haypiles were estimated by I.V. Travina in 1984 to be as much as 30 kg per hectare (12 kg per acre) when the population density is around 10 to 12 individuals per hectare. This store would sometimes be shared with other species such as
reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
. In 1978, Khlebnikova documented the influence exerted by the alpine pika on plant diversity and composition in the regions they inhabit. These include reduced seed content of the soil, decreased ratio of flowering plants, and slow succession of plants such as the
Siberian pine ''Pinus sibirica'', or Siberian pine, in the family Pinaceae is a species of pine tree that occurs in Siberia from 58°E in the Ural Mountains east to 126°E in the Stanovoy Range in southern Sakha Republic, and from Igarka at 68°N in the lower ...
due to the pika's foraging on young trees. The remnants of the haypiles, however, might facilitate plant growth and the accumulation of pellets that create spots of
nitrophilic Nitrophily is a botanical term that indicates a preference of certain plant species for a habitat rich in nitrate. This term was first introduced by George Fuller during the 1930s. The word is a contraction of the Greek words νἰτρον (nitro ...
vegetation (vegetation rich in
nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
). The species lives in families, with population densities of 10 to 12 individuals per hectare. Family feeding territories do not overlap with each other, and mostly remain the same each year; however, the home territories of different family groups are larger and do overlap with each other. Both males and females have been observed to mark corners of stones mostly located near the center of their home territory, from April to December, by rubbing their neck glands against them. The female's
fecundity Fecundity is defined in two ways; in human demography, it is the potential for reproduction of a recorded population as opposed to a sole organism, while in population biology, it is considered similar to fertility, the natural capability to pr ...
is low, as with other pikas inhabiting talus piles, and the size of litters decreases as the elevation increases. A.F. Potapkina observed a seasonal increase in the number of offspring per litter. On average, the female of the western Altai Mountains produces two litters, while in the northwestern Altai and the western Sayan Mountains she produces 2.7 litters—with 10% producing up to three litters in the latter case. In 1984, G.I. Makushin and G.I. Orlov determined the average annual mortality rate of the alpine pika to be 53% for populations living in forests and 41% for those living in the alpine zones—most of them aged between one and three years. The annual population density fluctuations of most populations were insignificant.


Vocalizations

The alpine pika can emit three different vocalizations. The long call is heard during the mating season from only the subspecies ''O. a. alpina'', ''O. a. changaica'', and ''O. a. nitida''. The short call is a harsh, sharp whistle that is easily distinguishable from the short high-pitched whistle of the northern pika. The alarm call is given out immediately any danger from predators or humans is perceived, and can travel greater distances than the calls of most other pika species.


Parasites

Internal parasites of the alpine pika include many
worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wor ...
species, such as ''Schizorchis altaica'', ''Cephaluris andrejevi'', ''Heligmosomum dubinini'', and ''Eugenuris schumakovitschi''. ''Schizorchis altaica'' was found in individuals inhabiting the southern Altai mountains, and ''Heligmosomum dubinini'' in those inhabiting the Sayan and Altai mountains.


Status and conservation

Since 1996, the alpine pika has been rated a species 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 ...
on the
IUCN Red List of Endangered Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...
. This is because it is widespread, with no known population decline. Despite the lack of data relating to its current population state, it is thought to have a stable trend, with some isolated populations exhibiting some variation. It has been regionally red-listed in China and Mongolia as a species of least concern, and about 12% of its population in Mongolia is found in protected areas.


References


Notes


Bibliography

* * * * * *


Further reading

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4524 Pikas Mammals described in 1773 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot