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Pika

(Ochotona princeps)

 

Category: Mammals

 

 

This species of pika is active during the daytime and found in the mountains of Western North America. They are small, herbivorous cousins of rabbits and hares. They can often be seen inhabiting piles of rock in alpine areas and eat a wide variety of green plants including grasses, thistles, sedges, and fireweed. When caching food for winter they stay very busy, making upwards of 100 trips a day gathering plant material for their dens. They are quite selective regarding the nutritional content of the food they collect for storage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_pika

 

Data & Facts

Scientific Classification
Kingdom - Animalia
Phylum - Chordata
Class - Mammalia
Order - Lagomorpha
Family - Ochotonidae
Genus - Ochotona

 
Did you know?
Interesting Animal Facts

Bats: The Only True-Flying Mammal

Bats, the only mammal capable of true flight, are not blind - their eyes are just fine, thank you very much. But instead of eyes, most bats rely on an incredibly fine-tuned sense of hearing when they fly and hunt. Using a technique called echolocation, they emit high-pitched calls (usually above the range of human hearing), using the echos that are reflected back to them as a means of navigation and locating objects. The ears, auditory cortex, and (in a few cases) even noses of some bats are extraordinarily specialized for echolocation; there are even bats that have adapted the frequency of their calls to frequencies above or below what their favorite prey can hear!

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