The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Ili Pika The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Ili Pika
Showing posts with label Ili Pika. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ili Pika. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Unicorns May Not Exist, But Did You Know That “Magical Rabbits” Do?


Unicorns may not exist, but did you know that “magical rabbits” do?

Okay, so they’re not really magical, but they’re certainly something special. “Magical rabbits” are also known as Ili Pika, and they are one of the most endangered species on the planet.

Pictures of them are exceptionally rare. In fact, the pictures seen in this post are the first images to surface of the elusive rabbits in 20 years.

Conservationist Weidong Li first discovered these cute animals in the 1980’s. The second time they were spotted was in the Tianshian mountains, located in the northwestern region of China.

The species was originally known as “Ochotona iliensis”, but Li changed its name in honor of his hometown. Sadly, the species population has plummeted even farther since they were first discovered.

Experts now estimate that there are fewer than 1,000 of these rabbits still alive.

Li feels a great responsibility to keep them safe, being as he was the person who discovered them in the first place. He’s said that he would feel very guilty if they went extinct on his watch. So he actually retired from his day job early in order to spend more of his time observing these creatures in their natural habitat.

But because of their rarity, it’s hard to establish any scientific data on them. What scientists do know definitively is that they are a member of the rabbit family, and there aren’t many of them left.

This is one of many issues that is blamed on global warming. Humans play a big part in the elimination of species in general, and this case is no different. We need to come together and make an effort to save the creatures of our planet.

Images of the Ili Pika have been released in order to raise some awareness about these special animals and their endangered status.








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Sunday, March 22, 2015

What is this Cute Furry Ball with the Teddy Bear Face? It's Called a 'Ili Pika', An Endangered Mammal that Was Recently Photographed for the First Time in 20 Years


This furry ball of cuteness is an endangered mammal closely related to rabbits and hares. The species was first discovered in 1983 and individuals have rarely been seen since.

It was first spotted in the Tian Shan Mountains in China, where it makes the holes and cracks of the cliffs its home. Despite other family of pika living across the Northern Hemisphere, these mountains are the only place this Ewok lookalike seems to feel at home.

Although scientists know where to find the Ili pika, it's still extremely hard to get on camera. For example, between 2002 and 2003 two researchers, Andrew Smith at Arizona State University and Li Wei-Dong at the Xinjiang Academy of Environmental Protection in Beijing, completed seven trips to twelve different sites to study population status of the animal. After 37 total days of attempted spottings, the two men came up completely empty handed.

Then, last summer, the man who originally discovered the species in '83, Weidong Li, had a chance encounter with the elusive creature. He and a group of researchers were out in the Tianshan Mountains for, what else, Ili pika spotting, when around noon they saw one and snapped the iconic picture above.

Only 29 of these individual animals have been seen alive. A rare find, indeed!

The Ili pika was not always endangered.

In the early '90s scientists estimated that about 2000 Ili pikas thrived in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Although Smith and Wei-Dong did not see a live Ili pika during their expedition, they found the animal's characteristic fecal deposits and distinctive snow tracks.

From this, they concluded that the population is not nearly as robust as it used to be. In their paper, published in 2005 in the journal Oryx, Smith and Wei-Dong, suggested the animal be added to the endangered species list.

We recommend that the Ili pika's Red List status be changed from Vulnerable to Endangered," they wrote in the paper.

Recent years have not shown any improvement. Over the last decade, the Ili pika population has continued to decline by an estimated 55%.

The reason for their dwindling numbers isn't clear, but Smith suspects it's related to disease, increased nearby human activity, and/or climate change.



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