If We Don’t Stop Climate Change, the Impossibly Cute American Pika Is Going to Die

[Omaha Steve]

American pika. (Photo: Getty Images)

February 04, 2015 By Todd Woody

Todd Woody is TakePart's senior editor for environment and wildlife.

Chances are you probably will never see a polar bear in the wild as the poster animal for climate change disappears along with its Arctic habitat. But as you hike through the mountains of the American West, you can still catch a glimpse of another improbably cute critter threatened by climate change.

Not for long.

Like the polar bear, the American pika is losing its home as rising temperatures force the pint-size mammal farther up the alpine slopes of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. Resembling a rabbit but more adorable, the pika drops dead if its body temperature rises more than 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit). Now a new study confirms that pika populations are indeed vanishing as the West warms. Researchers found that the animal could become extinct across 88 percent of its range in California in the coming decades.

The findings could put new pressure on state and federal officials to protect the pika. After years of legal battles, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and California wildlife officials denied petitions from conservationists to put the pika on state and federal endangered species lists. The reason: Despite several studies showing the pika’s distinctive high-pitched squeak is no longer heard at lower elevations, the government concluded it could survive rising temperatures.

But Joseph Stewart, the lead author of the study published in the Journal of Biogeography, said proof of the pika’s vulnerability to climate change has become irrefutable.

FULL story at link.

[BlueJazz]

1. I've loved these little guys all my life. They work hard all spring, summer and fall..

....carrying flowers to their nest. I've seen a few live and to think that they would be gone from this world makes me want to sit down and cry.
I kid around a lot on this forum but not about these wonderful little creatures.

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=101617

[BlueJazz]

2. Kick for the wonderful caring people.