Adorable Pika Gathers Moss to Combat Climate Change

Climate change may be having a drastic impact on the rabbit-like pika. In fact, past researchers has shown that warming temperatures are driving these animals to higher elevations or wiping them out completely. Now, though, scientists have found that these creatures may have adapted at least in one area. It turns out that roly-poly pikas living in rockslides near sea level in Oregon survive hot weather by eating more moss than any other mammal.

Pikas are native to cold, alpine climates--often above 8,200 feet elevation. They can be found in North America, Asia and Eastern Europe. While a few species dig burrows, they usually live in rocky areas and crevices near meadows or in talus slopes. Instead of hibernating, these mammals collect and carry vegetation which they use to make "haypiles" for winter use. Most notable, though, is the fact that pikas are very sensitive to heat. In fact, these rabbit-like creatures can die if they spend more than two hours above 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

"They basically are shaped like spheres, which is optimal for conserving heat," said Jo Varner, one of the researchers, in a news release. "They have a thick fur coat and a high metabolic rate, which means they generate a lot of heat. The thick fur coat traps it, and so does their spherical shape."

And yet it turns out that pikas can manage to endure the heat. The researchers examined pikas in the Cascade Range. More specifically, they looked at the population that lives in the wet, foggy Columbia River Gorge--a place that at first glance would appear hostile to pikas. The scientists surveyed the abundance of vegetation in the area and examined exactly what the pikas ate. In all, they collected 220 hours of pika behavior.

So what did they find? It turns out that the pikas eat some unusual foods like moss to persist in the warmer environment. This seems to indicate that the animals are more resistant to climate change than originally thought.

"By consuming mosses that grow on the rockslides where they live, the pikas are released from foraging outside the safety and shady heat buffer of the rocks," said Varner in a news release. "Few herbivores consume moss because it's so nutritionally deficient. The pikas in our study actually set a new record for moss in a mammal's diet: 60 percent."

The findings reveal that pikas may not be as endangered by climate change as once thought. That said, these animals should still be monitored. Yet this study provides hope for these rabbit-like creatures.

The findings are published in the Journal of Mammalogy.