17/10/2025
Pika: The Rock Rabbit - by Dr. Wayne Lynch
Every autumn, if I want to brighten my day, I drive to the mountains west of my home in Calgary to watch American pikas prepare for winter, and this year was no exception.
Everyone who sees a pika (pronounced PIKE-ah or PEEK-ah) for the first time invariably exclaims, “Aww, it’s so cute.” The diminutive pika is a cuddly furball about the size of a baked potato.
The pika is a habitat specialist that lives almost exclusively in barren rockslides and talus slopes. From across this ravine, I could hear the pika’s telltale whistle coming from the distant talus slope. As I hiked closer, it continued to call. The pika whistles to advertise its ownership of a territory, signal its dominance when chasing an intruder, or sound an alarm when it spots a predator.
Read the full article:
https://www.photonews.ca/pika-the-rock-rabbit/