Pikas greet a lot of Colorado hikers before they ever see the animals themselves. Their sharp squeaks echo out from the rocks, giving these tiny mountain mammals a big presence in the high country.
But now, the familiar call of the pika is growing quieter at a well-studied site in the Rockies. A long-running survey on one Colorado mountainside shows that fewer young animals are joining the population.
The work suggests that the community of pikas there is shifting toward older adults, with fewer juveniles stepping in to replace them.
The lifestyle of a pika
The American pika (Ochotona princeps) is a small and fuzzy animal with round ears, about the size of your fist. It is more closely related to rabbits and hares than to rodents…