American pika’s live primarily among the mountains of the Western United States and Southwestern Canada. They can be found in Montana, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, California, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada.

Pikas live in the alpine tundra above the tree line in areas dominated by what is called “tallus” which is almost like a field of large boulders. The elevation is usually above 11,000 feet. This habitat provides excellent hiding places and crevices for them to store their food and rear young without risk of being attacked from the air by birds of prey or by ground by other predators. If you ever visit the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, you will get a chance to see them, and as you drive higher in elevation you get a chance to see the changes in habitat.

Pikas are herbivores just like their rabbit cousins. They mainly feed on grasses, sedges, some flowers, and a plant called fireweed. Believe it or not, they eat throughout the year, even in the dead of winter where everything is frozen solid.  How do they do it without hibernation?

They store huge ‘caches” of food similar to a squirrel, but much larger. One of the largest pika caches weighed almost 60 pounds! That is a lot of food for an animal that barely weighs a pound. It’s better to have too much than too little though! 

When storing up their food for winter, they can make up to 100 trips per day. They need so much food due to their small size and incredibly high metabolism. Scientists discovered they pick foods based on their nutritional content, and select foods higher in calories, protein, and fats than others. This is vital to their survival in the den and is amazing they have the ability to do so! 

Once the winter rolls around and they have stored up enough food, they usually stay below the snowpack and feed on their stash of food.

About one month before the snow melts, pikas begin mating. They will sing songs to each other to attract and communicate with potential mates! Their gestation period lasts about 30 days, and then the female gives birth to three to five partially hairless and blind babies.  The young grow incredibly fast and in only a month, they are fully independent and weaned from their mother’s milk. They will stay around the den for a little while until resources become scarce, and then they will go off and form their own territory. 

Below you can see a video of two pikas communicating with each other. 

Because pikas live in such extreme climates and high elevations. They have enjoyed a rather undisturbed existence from mankind. 

The American pika may look like a rodent but its closest relative is the rabbit! They are in the family Lagomorpha, which includes rabbits and hares. If you look carefully, they almost look like perpetually young rabbits.

Because resources are scarce in the alpine tundra, pikas have become very territorial, but still share their home ranges with many other pikas. They are also very vocal, and will make  series of different alarm calls to alert each other of danger.