Ochotona cansus

The Intercranial Pika, also known as the Singing Pika, belongs to the subgenus Ochotona. It was previously merged into the Tibetan Pika, but later became independent. There is no dispute about the species. It is the smaller individual in the genus. It is distributed at a higher altitude than the Tibetan Pika, mainly in the alpine shrubs above the forest line. It is the main species in the Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountains. There are no Tibetan Pikas in this area.

The Intercranial Pika lives in tree roots, grass, farmland ridges and piles of rocks. There are a large number of them, and the caves are shallow, with a depth of more than 10 cm from the ground. They feed on grass and destroy grasslands. They can move both day and night, and do not hibernate in winter. The breeding period is from May to August, with 2-6 pups per litter.

This species is listed in the 2017 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species ver3.1—Least Concern (LC).

It is endemic to China. It is distributed in Gansu, Sichuan, Qinghai, Shaanxi and Shanxi.

The Intercranial Pika lives in alpine meadow shrubs and forest edge grasslands of mountain coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest belts at an altitude of 2200-4000 meters.

The individual is relatively small. The body length is 95-140mm. The overall color is basically the same as that of the Tibetan pika, but the color is slightly lighter. Compared with the Tibetan pika, the overall size is much smaller. The back is yellow-brown, sometimes gray-brown; the ventral side is slightly lighter, light yellow. There is less hair on the soles of the feet, and the claws are exposed outside the hair. The ears are about 20mm, with white edges on the ear edges. On the skull, there is no oval foramen in the frontal bone, and the incisor foramen and palatine foramen are merged into one large hole. In terms of skull measurements, the interorbital width of the Intercranial Pika is less than 4.0mm, which is an important identification feature and the main difference from the Tibetan pika.