Pika are found throughout the Rocky Mountains from New Mexico and California to the Canadian Rockies. Pika generally cannot survive for long at temperatures above 80 degrees. They live in mountainous terrain in scree fields that allow burrowing and also have an abundance of grasses and forbs to forage. They depend on a food cache and snow cover for insulation throughout the winter.
Warming climates ironically are not only causing stress on pika in the summer. Loss of snowpack may be a larger problem.
Scientists and citizen scientists are working to document the pika’s range and prevalence, so any changes can be measured. Before they disappear and run out of cooler elevations, the hope is that the mountains of Glacier will sustain a healthy population at least into the near-term future.
Map of Pika’s spotted by citizen science group:
For More See:
Understanding Climate Change’s ‘Canary in the Coal Mine’
Pika Research and Conservation at Craighead Institute
Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation – Worldwide Pika Project @ inaturalist.org