This cute little guy is an American pika, spotted this month in Rocky Mountain National Park by Estes Park photographer Erik Stensland. Pikas are about the size of hamsters and look a lot like mice but are actually related to rabbits.
All my life I’ve enjoyed their cheerful little squeaks when I’ve been in the high country. If lucky, I’d see one or two scurrying through the boulders, gathering grasses, flowers, etc., for their winter “haystacks.” So industrious. But they are creatures of the tundra, with metabolisms designed for cool or cold harsh weather at altitude. They can’t tolerate heat. They hide from it, unable to gather their winter stores. As a result, climate change/global warming has been either starving/killing them or driving them to higher areas. Eventually there will be no higher, cooler retreat and they will disappear entirely.
Pikas are already gone from around Lake Tahoe. And recent studies show they’ve also disappeared from the Black Rock Range in Nevada and from Zion National Park in Utah. A loss for visitors both human and predaceous.
Time marches on and I suppose I can’t expect “my” mountains to remain forever unchanged. But I grieve the loss of the creatures I love who have always populated my favorite places. It’s sad that someday in the not-so-distant future, if I can still get to the tundra regions, I won’t be greeted with faces like this:
Sadly, I’ve never seen one in the wild, but I do love my nature programming:
Sad…
Oh, thank you for the link!! BBC and Attenborough make the very best nature films!
I hear them much more than see them when I’m in the mountains. They’re small, and not the gregarious pigs that marmots are. But their calls are part of the soundscape and it won’t be the same without them.
BBCAmerica has become one of my very favorite channels!
If only they’d offer 24 hour news!
Would you believe that Sir David is actually 91 years of age and still out there in the wilds producing his treasures for the few, the wold needs a person of his calibre to take charge and run the place!
What annoys me is that the English govt made his brother a Lord and just handed David a knighthood!
A most amazing man. Unique applies to him.
And these dear little creatures are to be wiped off of the face of the earth because of we, the master species.are responsible and couldn’t give a damn!
The earth has never had a better spokesman. I don’t know who could ever take his place.
As for the pikas, mankind may not get smart enough fast enough to save them … or many other species.
including the human species;
There is nobody that can replace him, as I believe, and mentioned, he is unique in the true sense of the word.
Losing species is a message to humanity, if only we would pay attention. I share your sadness when this happens.
Many species are threatened. The endangered one that saddens me the most is tigers.