Royle’s Pika:
Scientist said that climate change threatens creatures like Royle’s pika that have weathered extreme environments for thousands of years.
- Royle’s pika (Ochotona roylei), also called the Himalayan mouse hare or hui shutu, is a species of pika.
- It is found in open rocky landscapes and rhododendron forests.
- It is found in northwestern Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in India to Nepal and Tibet.
- It relies on a thick winter snowpack to act as an insulating blanket, shielding it from brutal sub-zero temperatures.
- It does not make its own nest; rather, it takes narrow creeks and existing burrow systems as its nest.
- Conservation Status: IUCN: Least Concern
- Threats: Climate change and population isolation.
