Ochotona pallasi

The Mongolian pika belongs to the subgenus <Pika>, and its classification is very confusing. Sometimes the Mongolian pika produced in Ningxia is regarded as an independent species - Ningxia pika (<Ochotona argentata>), but molecular systematic studies have found that the Ningxia pika is not an independent species, but a subspecies of the Mongolian pika. There are many subspecies and synonyms of the Mongolian pika, and there are also many controversies. This species has a large distribution area in my country, but it is not continuous and has a discontinuous distribution. The population in the distribution area is not large.

Mongolian pikas are herbivorous animals that mainly feed on plant roots, stems, and leaves, and occasionally take seeds of crops. In summer, they mainly feed on Gramineae, Cyperaceae, Artemisia frigida, Caragana, etc., and also feed on seedlings of wheat, potatoes, alfalfa, etc.; in autumn, they harm fruits. In the growing season, they mainly feed on the green parts of plants. They like to eat the stems and leaves of plants the most, such as Artemisia variegata, Allium bifida, and Potentilla bifida. An adult pika eats 59.85g of fresh grass per day on average, and eats about 21.85kg of fresh grass per year. It has the habit of storing grass from August to October every year. It first bites the grass off, then drags it to the entrance of the cave and piles it into small piles, each pile weighing 3-5kg. After drying, it drags it into the cave for storage for winter consumption. When there are many pikas, nearly a thousand piles of grass can be seen in an area of 2 to 3 square meters. The main plants stored are Potentilla chrysanthemum, Artemisia ferrugaceae, Artemisia argyi, Kochia scoparia and Artemisia frigida.

Mongolian pikas are active during the day and do not hibernate. They are active all year round. When the climate warms up in spring, the grass stored in the previous winter has been eaten up. In order to find green plants, the range of activities expands, and the radius of activities is 10-20m or more. It is not hot at noon in spring, and the daily activities are single-peaked. In summer, the sunshine increases and the climate is hot. In order to avoid sunlight exposure, activities are stopped at noon. They go out from 4:30-10:30 in the morning and 17:30-20:00 in the afternoon. Due to the abundance of food, the range of activities is smaller than in spring. In autumn, the climate cools down, and the sunlight at noon is not as strong as in summer. The activities become single-peaked again. It is the longest season of the year. In preparation for grass storage, the warehouse is cleaned, and grass storage begins when the grass turns from green to yellow. In the severe winter, they spend less time outside the cave, but they still move around when the snow accumulates. They dig a passage under the snow, and the cave entrance is opened on the snow surface. In the morning when there is no wind, they like to bask in the sun at the cave entrance. Sometimes, they also move around on the snow, but generally their activity range does not exceed 10m. They immediately run back to the cave when there is a little wind and snow.

Mongolian pikas live in groups in caves, and the cave system can be divided into simple caves (summer caves) and complex caves (winter caves). Most simple caves have only one cave entrance and no warehouse. Complex caves have 3-6 circular to oval cave entrances, with a diameter of about 5-9cm. There are spherical feces near the cave entrance. Fresh feces are grass-yellow, and old feces are gray-brown. There is a mesh runway about 5cm wide between the cave entrances. The tunnel at the entrance is at an angle of 30-40° to the ground and extends about 50cm before becoming parallel to the ground. The tunnel has a complex structure with many bends and a total length of about 3-10m. There is a nest in the middle of the tunnel, which is covered with broken grass and is flat. There are 1-3 warehouses not far from the entrance.

The reproduction of Mongolian pikas varies depending on the region and altitude. Generally, they breed 2 or 3 times a year, from April to July (or from March to September) of the same year, with the highest breeding rate in June. The gestation period is 15-20 days, and each litter has 5-12 pups, with a maximum of 14 pups. After 7 days, the pikas can move outside the cave with the mother pika. Female pups are sexually mature at 21 days old and have strong reproductive capacity.

The population of Mongolian pikas fluctuates greatly, and when the population is large, it can cause harm to the grassland. The main harm to grasslands is as follows: Daurian pikas mainly feed on crops and forage grass, compete with livestock for grass, reduce grass production, and cause certain harm to agriculture and animal husbandry; they are gregarious animals, their burrows cover a large area, and the stolen mounds cover the grasslands. The rat tracks on the ground are crisscrossed, and no grass grows on them. When the density is high, it will cause harm to the grasslands. The burrows are shallow from the ground, often causing livestock to break their legs when they pass by; the burrows in hillside areas often cause soil erosion, and some places become gravel land with no grass. At the same time, it is also an epidemic source animal, a transmitter and storage of plague bacteria, which can spread the disease and cause harm to livestock and humans to a certain extent.

Domestically, it is distributed in Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Xinjiang. Abroad, it is distributed in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Russia.

The Mongolian pika is a warm and dry animal in eastern Mongolia, living in plateau hills, typical grasslands, and mountain grasslands. The grasslands of the Artemisia community are the most common in the Hexi Corridor. The habitat often has short shrubs composed of Potentilla and Caragana. In the eastern section of the Qilian Mountains, the vegetation is mostly sunny meadow grasslands with Cyperaceae as the main community species. For example, in the grasslands of the Qilian Mountain terraces in the south of Shandan, the number of pikas is large and the density is high, which has caused serious damage to the grassland. They dig holes on the ridges next to the roots of Caragana and Achnatherum, on the edges of hillside farmlands, grasslands, and plateaus.

The individual is medium to large. The average body length is about 180mm. The overall color of Inner Mongolia specimens is gray, and the tips of the hair on the back of some individuals are dyed light yellow. There is generally a short brown-yellow band below the ears on the side of the head; the Xinjiang specimens are lighter in color, and the overall tone is gray-white, with a slightly dark yellow-white tone. The abdominal hair is gray-white, with tips dyed light yellow. The coat color on the ears and back is the same; the Ningxia specimen has a significant brownish-yellow tone on the back of the body, especially the top of the head, which is mostly dark brown. The ears appear black. The fur on the abdomen is gray-white. The center of the chest is sometimes stained with a yellow tinge. On the skull, there is no foramen ovale in the frontal bone, and the incisor and palatine foramen are clearly separated, almost becoming two holes. Another notable feature of the skull is that the int