---
title: "What the sources say about the American Pika | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "51 claims from the American Pika profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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# What the sources say about the American Pika (*Ochotona princeps*)

> 51 claims from the American Pika profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [American Pika](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/american-pika/)

## Ochotona princeps (American pika). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ochotona_princeps/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| stacks hay in summer | Caching, also known as haying, occurs during summer. |
| Broken rock and talus fields beside alpine meadows in the mountains of western North America, from British Columbia south to California and New Mexico | American pikas inhabit areas of broken rock and talus fields fringed by alpine meadows. |
| Broken rock and talus fields beside alpine meadows in the mountains of western North America, from British Columbia south to California and New Mexico | American pikas can be found throughout the mountainous regions of western North America. Their geographic range extends as far south as New Mexico and California, as far north as British Columbia |
| Mostly forbs and shrubs, plus grasses, sedges and its own soft droppings | Forbs and shrubs constitute 78 to 87% of their diet, with alpine avens, clovers, and sedges |
| Mostly forbs and shrubs, plus grasses, sedges and its own soft droppings | alpine avens, clovers, and sedges making up the remaining 22 to 13% of their diet |
| Mostly forbs and shrubs, plus grasses, sedges and its own soft droppings | Pikas consume the caecal pellet (which has high energy value and protein content) or store it for later consumption. |
| Stacks a winter hay pile in summer instead of hibernating | Caching, also known as haying, occurs during summer. |
| A single haypile can hold up to 30 plant species. | up to 30 species of plants may be found in a single haypile |
| Pikas avoid some toxic plants, yet they may still store them. | certain plant species are avoided due to the presence of toxins, these plants may be cached in haypiles for winter consumption |
| Some toxins act as natural preservatives that wear off by the time the plant is eaten. | Some toxins act as natural preservatives that wear off by the time the plant is consumed. |
| In winter it tunnels through the snow to reach meadows and its haypiles. | they do make tunnels through the snow during the winter to access meadows and haypiles |
| A pika makes two kinds of droppings: a hard brown pellet and a soft, shiny string called a caecal pellet. | American pikas create two types of fecal droppings: a hard brown round pellet and a soft shiny string of material (the caecal pellet). |
| It eats the soft ones or stores them for later. | Pikas consume the caecal pellet (which has high energy value and protein content) or store it for later consumption. |
| Only about 68% of the food it swallows is assimilated (taken up by the body), making those soft pellets an important part of its diet. | Only about 68% of the ingested food is assimilated, making the caecal pellets an important part of the American pika's diet. |
| A pika is a relative of rabbits and hares, not a rodent. | Order Lagomorpha hares, pikas, and rabbits |
| It weighs 121 to 176 grams | Their body mass exhibits a great deal of variation and ranges from 121 to 176 grams. |
| is 162 to 216 millimetres long | Range length 162 to 216 mm |
| with short ears, short legs and no visible tail | Their body is ovoid, with short ears, long vibrissae (40-77 mm), short limbs, and no visible tail. |
| Its body temperature averages 40.1°C | American pikas have a high body temperature (average of 40.1°C) |
| its average upper lethal temperature, the heat that kills it, is 43.1°C | relatively low upper lethal temperature (average of 43.1°C) |
| Pikas live in the mountains of western North America, from British Columbia south to California and New Mexico. | American pikas can be found throughout the mountainous regions of western North America. Their geographic range extends as far south as New Mexico and California, as far north as British Columbia |
| They favour broken rock beside alpine meadows. | American pikas inhabit areas of broken rock and talus fields fringed by alpine meadows. |
| In the north they range from sea level to 3,000 metres, while in the south they are rarely found below 2,500 metres. | In the northern part of their range, they can be found from sea level to 3,000 meters; however, in the southern part of their range, American pikas are rarely found below 2,500 meters. |
| Pikas warn their neighbours with alarm calls. | they emit an alarm-call informing the rest of the community of its presence |
| These calls usually change in frequency depending on whether the predator is large or small. | Alarm calls are usually repetitive short calls that change in frequency depending on the type of predator seen (e.g., large vs. small). |
| No. Pikas are lagomorphs, the order that holds rabbits, hares and pikas. | Order Lagomorpha hares, pikas, and rabbits |
| Mostly forbs and shrubs, plus grasses, sedges and its own soft droppings | In the summer, American pikas typically eat short alpine grasses. |
| a single pile can hold up to 30 plant species | up to 30 species of plants may be found in a single haypile |
| weightKg: 0.15 | Their body mass exhibits a great deal of variation and ranges from 121 to 176 grams. (note: task #1261; AnAge's 100 g is also Light) |

## AnAge entry for Ochotona princeps. AnAge: The Animal Ageing and Longevity Database, Build 15, Human Ageing Genomic Resources.

https://genomics.senescence.info/species/entry.php?species=Ochotona_princeps

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The maximum recorded lifespan is 7 years, in a captive pika. | Maximum longevity 7 years (captivity) |
| AnAge lists a maximum longevity of 7 years, from a captive pika that was born in the wild. It also notes an estimate of up to 7 years in the wild. | Maximum longevity 7 years (captivity) ... It has been estimated that these animals live up to 7 years in the wild [ 0573 ]. One wild born captive specimen was about 7 years old when it died in captivity |

## American Pika at Mount Rainier National Park: Keeping an eye on one of Mount Rainier's most climate sensitive species. National Park Service.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/american-pika-at-mount-rainier.htm

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| can be killed by two hours above 28°C | Just two hours exposure to temperatures above 28°C (82.4°F) can be fatal |
| A rabbit relative | related to rabbits and hares |
| Stacks a winter hay pile in summer instead of hibernating | Pikas do not hibernate and have adapted to survive the cold alpine winters. They collect vegetation including ferns, grasses, herbaceous plants, bits of shrubs, and conifer twigs to create haypiles, which serve as their food source for the winter |
| Stacking hay for a winter it will not sleep through | Pikas do not hibernate and have adapted to survive the cold alpine winters. |
| The American pika is a small mammal that does not hibernate. | Pikas do not hibernate |
| it spends the summer building haypiles, which are stacks of plants it will eat in winter | They collect vegetation including ferns, grasses, herbaceous plants, bits of shrubs, and conifer twigs to create haypiles, which serve as their food source for the winter |
| A pika is a relative of rabbits and hares, not a rodent. | a small herbivorous mammal, related to rabbits and hares |
| Its thick fur and fast metabolism fight the winter cold but leave it prone to overheating. | Pikas combat freezing winters with thick coats of insulating fur and a high metabolism (Smith and Weston 1990), but this means that pikas are prone to overheating. |
| Just two hours above 28°C can be fatal. | Just two hours exposure to temperatures above 28°C (82.4°F) can be fatal |
| Pikas mostly live in talus, fields of broken rock and boulders, where the temperature is fairly stable year-round. That lets them keep cool in summer. | Pikas primarily inhabit patches of fragmented rock and boulder fields known as talus. ... The temperature in talus habitat is fairly stable year-round, which allows pikas to keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter. |
| Running out of mountain | the total amount of available land area decreases as elevation increases, and suitable talus habitat and vegetation becomes sparse or non-existent, which leaves limited options for pikas to move upslope |
| No. They survive the cold alpine winter without hibernating, living off the haypiles of plants they collected. | Pikas do not hibernate and have adapted to survive the cold alpine winters. They collect vegetation ... to create haypiles, which serve as their food source for the winter |
| Small, furry and prone to overheating | Pikas combat freezing winters with thick coats of insulating fur and a high metabolism (Smith and Weston 1990), but this means that pikas are prone to overheating. |
| The pattern is not the same everywhere. | American pikas populations are responding differently to climate change in different parts of their range |
| An American pika spends the summer building haypiles for the winter | They collect vegetation including ferns, grasses, herbaceous plants, bits of shrubs, and conifer twigs to create haypiles, which serve as their food source for the winter |

## Smith & Beever (2016). Ochotona princeps. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T41267A45184315.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2016-3.rlts.t41267a45184315.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Least Concern | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). (note: Category read through GBIF's copy of the Red List (taxon 41267); the assessment itself is a hand check.) |
| The IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). (note: Category read through GBIF's copy of the Red List (taxon 41267).) |

## Beever et al. (2011). Contemporary climate change alters the pace and drivers of extinction. Global Change Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02389.x

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| In the Great Basin, records from 1898 to 2008 showed that four of ten local pika extinctions had happened since 1999, and that the low edge of their range was moving uphill at an average of about 145 metres per decade. | using records from 1898-2008 ... Four of ten local pika extinctions have occurred since 1999, and across this ecoregion the low-elevation range boundary for this species is now moving upslope at an average rate of about 145 m per decade (note: The Great Basin ecoregion; the abstract describes the 1898-2008 records as spanning the ecoregion.) |

## Erb, Ray & Guralnick (2011). On the generality of a climate-mediated shift in the distribution of the American pika (Ochotona princeps). Ecology.

https://doi.org/10.1890/11-0175.1

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| In the Southern Rocky Mountains, a survey of 69 sites historically occupied by pikas found only four populations lost over the past few decades. | Results from a survey of 69 sites historically occupied by pikas indicate that only four populations have been extirpated within this region over the past few decades. |

## Varner & Dearing (2014). The Importance of Biologically Relevant Microclimates in Habitat Suitability Assessments. PLoS ONE.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104648

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| In one study at four sites in the Columbia River Gorge, the gaps between rocks at sites with heavy moss cover stayed a steady 6 to 8°C even when the air was over 35°C. | Temperature data were collected every two hours from June 2012 to June 2014 at four sites in the Columbia River Gorge. ... Even at ambient temperatures over 35°C, interstitial temperatures at sites with high moss cover remained a cool and constant 6–8°C (note: Interstitial = the gaps inside the talus; ambient = air temperature measured on site.) |