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Photo by Lynn Chamberlain
Photo Copyright Lynn Chamberlain
American Pika
Ochotona princeps
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): G5
State (S-rank): S4
External links
Species range
The range of American pika encompasses many of the mountainous areas of western North America, including the Rocky Mountains, Great Basin ranges, Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the Cascade Mountains . In Utah, American pikas are found in the Bear Lake and Uinta Mountains in northern Utah, to the Markagunt Plateau and the La Sal Mountains in the south. Utah hosts four of the five described American pika subspecies. One of them, Uinta pika (O.p. uinta), is considered endemic to Utah and is found in the Uinta Mountains, Wasatch Plateau, Fishlake Plateau, and Boulder Mountain.
Habitat
This species typically inhabits talus or boulder-strewn slopes, frequently above timberline.
The only aspect of the habitat of this species in Utah that Durrant (1952) mentioned was "high elevations"; all of the elevations of collection localities for this species in Utah presented by Durrant (1952) were within the elevational range of 8,000 to 11,315 ft, most of the elevations being 9,000 or 10,000 ft.
Ecology
The American pika is a habitat specialist that generally requires broken rock habitat and associated grassy feeding areas. They are most common in high alpine talus areas but have also been found in lower-elevation volcanic landscapes. Vegetation communities at occupied sites include sage-steppe shrublands, woodland communities, montane forests, wet and dry montane meadows and shrublands, subalpine forest zones, and diverse alpine communities.
Threats or limiting factors
As pika are mostly found in alpine areas, climate change has been identified as a threat to the species with some studies noting pika colony extinctions in hotter and drier areas.
