“This tiny species could be extinct any time,” he said. They concluded that there were fewer than 1,000 Ili pikas, said Li.
The volunteers dubbed it a “magic rabbit.” This time, on the second day of the field trip, they finally spotted a pika, who jumped and stepped over Li’s feet while he was trying to photograph it. Last year, he organized a group of 20 volunteers to conduct another survey with infrared cameras. Scientist Li Weidong points to where he and his team spotted the Ili pika in July 2014. In the decade following, Li and his colleagues conducted a number of studies, including a census at 14 different sites.
Two years later, Li found another two and it was declared a new species. In 1983, when Li first came across the mammal, nobody knew what it was. It’s also a solitary animal and is not as vocal as other pika species, so if predators are near, Ili pikas are not able to alert each other, Li said.ĭisease may also be a factor in its decline. “They have nowhere else to retreat,” he added. Now they have retreated to elevations of 4,100 meters. Ili pikas were originally found at elevations between 3,200 to 3,400 meters, he said. Li says the pika’s habitat has been affected by global warming.ĭue to rising temperatures, glaciers have receded and the altitude of permanent snow has risen in the Tianshan mountains, forcing the pikas to gradually retreat to mountain tops, Li said. The mammal, only 20 centimeters long, lives on sloping bare rock faces and feeds on grasses at high elevations. The Ili pika photographed by Li Weidong in July 2014. In 2008, the animal was listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature but there’s no official organization or team dedicated studying or protecting it, according to Li. “If it becomes extinct in front of me, I’ll feel so guilty.” “I discovered the species, and I watched as it became endangered,” he told CNN. He estimates its numbers have declined by almost 70% since its discovery. Last July, Li spotted and photographed the elusive creature for the first time since the early 1990s. Li discovered the pika, formally known as Ochotona iliensis, in 1983 and named it after his hometown, Ili. Rarer – and some would argue cuter– than the panda, there are less than 1,000 of these teddy bear-like creatures living in the Tianshan mountain range in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China, says conservationist Li Weidong. Native to a remote region of China, this tiny mammal, known as the Ili pika, doesn’t know it’s a member of an endangered species – and neither do most people.
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