Small pika

Small pika - the smallest pika of the fauna of Russia. Body length 153-210 mm, weight 95 - 280 g. The tail is not visible from the outside. Paws are short, soles are covered with thick dark hair, covering, including the fingertips; foot length 25 - 36 mm. The nails are thin and short, subject to seasonal changes: by winter, outgrowths of the plantar and claw plates grow, becoming wider than the claw, which allows pikas to dig dense snow . Ears are rounded, black-brown in color, approximately 17-22 mm long. Along the edges of the auricles there is a wide bright, clearly limited border, next to which on the inner surface of the auricle there is a dark stripe. The upper lip and chin are buffy. Vibrissae are relatively short, up to 50 mm long. The color of the summer fur of the steppe pikas varies from dark brown to ocher-brown and brownish-gray in color with pale yellow speckles. In the Siberian subspecies, the fur is lighter. The steppe pika sheds twice a year. Spring molting begins in mid-May, autumn molting begins in late summer - early autumn and runs until October. Winter fur in both subspecies is twice as high and lighter than summer fur, without noticeable ripples.

Tracks of pikas are similar to hare , but much smaller (jump length 35 - 45 cm). The trail of the hind leg is shorter than 2.5 cm.

There are 68 chromosomes in the karyotype of the steppe pika.

Small pika is one of the oldest species of the genus Ochotona . In the past, the species was distributed almost throughout Europe , including the United Kingdom , as evidenced by the fossil remains of this animal in the Pleistocene sediments. The rapid retreat of the range to the east began at the beginning of the Holocene and was associated with the global climate changes taking place then in Western Europe (namely, warming and humidification of the climate) which led to the widespread distribution of deciduous forests . By the beginning of our era, the range of the steppe pika was already significantly reduced and barely reached the Dnieper in the west. In the Asian part , the range in the east previously reached the modern Krasnoyarsk Territory .

A further reduction in the range of small pika was caused by human economic activity. Plowing up new virgin lands and moving from primitive fallow agriculture to more modern forms , man more and more limited the area of arid shrub communities - the natural habitat of this animal. In addition, the steadily increasing number of livestock had a negative effect, requiring ever new pastures for which unsuitable plowing lands were used . The western border of the range of the steppe pika was moved more and more to the east. If in the second half of the XVIII century the species was still found near the Ilovlya River (a tributary of the Don ) and was widespread in the Volga region and the lower reaches of the Urals (as evidenced by the records of P.S. Pallas ( 1769 ), I.I. Lepekhin ( 1771 ), and P. Falka ), then naturalists of the second half of the 19th century ( Yu. I. Simashko ( 1851 ), G. S. Karelin ( 1875 )) already note a significant decrease in the number of steppe pikas, which has occurred since then. According to G. S. Karelin in the European part of Russia “this species lived almost exclusively along the ravines of the slopes of General Syrt ” ^[2] .

The modern range of the steppe pika ^{[3] is} stretched by a strip from west to east from the Middle Trans-Volga region ( Samara region ) to the north-eastern section of the border of Kazakhstan with China . The northern border, starting in the west at the latitude of Samara , then rising north, passes through the South Cis-Urals, goes around the Ural Mountains from the south, runs through the forest-steppe zone of the Trans-Urals in the vicinity of Magnitogorsk , and then stretches in a southeastern direction through Kustanayskaya , Pavlodar and Semipalatinsk regions of Kazakhstan. The southern border of the range coincides with the northern border of stable winter snow cover and, starting south of the city of Uralsk , descends east to the Northern Aral Sea region, then passes through the Betpak-Dala and Northern Balkhash regions to the Tarbagatai ridge. At the same time, the range actually enters the desert zone only according to the azonal elements of the landscape .

Currently, steppe piku populations are marked:

• in Russia : the Orenburg region , the vicinity of the cities of Magnitogorsk and Verkhneuralsk , Kizilsky , Bredinsky , Varna , Kartaly regions of the Chelyabinsk region ^[4] , the southern regions of Bashkiria ^[5] , the eastern regions of the Saratov region , the south of the Samara region [1] , Klyuchevsky , Charyshsky , Krasnoshchekovsky and Zmeinogorsk regions of the Altai Territory ^[6] .
• in Kazakhstan - in all northern and central regions with the exception of the North Kazakhstan region , the northern regions of the Kokchetav and Pavlodar regions.

Small pika - an inhabitant of the steppe , forest-steppe and semi-desert territories. Moreover, she prefers shrub-rocky places and areas with high grass cover and shrubs, as well as ravines , gullies , river banks and the outskirts of forest stands. This is a flat animal living in holes . The maximum height above sea level where steppe pikas are found is 1,500 m above sea level ( Tarbagatai ridge ).

Burrows dig holes in places where groundwater does not come close to the surface of the earth, in fairly soft chernozem or sandy loamy soils , among the roots of tree-shrubbery vegetation. Burrows are relatively shallow, have many entrances, are divided into temporary (for quick diving in case of predator attack) and permanent. Permanent, or brood, burrows are more complex and have 1 to 2 nesting chambers of oval shape up to 18 cm long, 12 cm wide and 14 cm high, lined with dry leaves and grass ; the entrances and exits from such holes are usually arranged in inconspicuous places: under bushes , near trees , near large stones . Permanent burrows have 10 to 14 exits. Temporary holes are 2 - 3 in the family; there are fewer exits from them. Also, steppe pikas can settle in the voids between the stones and occupy the abandoned burrows of rodents . The Asian subspecies willingly live in horizontal slots under large stones, where they make a nesting chamber and pantries fencing the space with small stones and fastening the embankment with their semi-liquid droppings, which dryens the embankment so that it can only be broken using a tool. This is probably done primarily to protect against predators. Harvested vegetation is also dried under stones, in the shade. Young individuals play a lot and willingly, running after each other.

Pikas settle in small colonies. They live in families , while the plots of neighboring families do not overlap. The density of pikas in their habitats is different and is in the range of 0.1 / ha - 80 / ha. The animal is active throughout the day, but most - at night and at dusk ; in heat and rainy weather, activity decreases.

The life span of pikas is about three years.

The main natural enemies of the steppe pika are the fox , corsac , polecat , weasel , ermine , as well as birds of prey .

Nutrition

The diet of the steppe pika is diverse and includes a variety of herbs, leaves and young shoots of shrubs, flowers , fruits and seeds . Preference is given to asteraceae , legumes , cereals , especially licorice and tansy . In mountainous regions, juniper twigs are included in the diet. Like most other pikas, for the winter the steppe stocks up “ hay ” in stacks up to 45 cm high and weighing 0.3 - 7 kg, which it arranges on the trunks of bushes, piles of twigs, less often between stones located at the entrances and exits from the burrows. Harvesting begins in June - July. In stocks, up to 60 plant species are found. The number of stacks and their size depend on the number of pikas participating in their device.

In winter, the pika prefers to move under the snow , leaving the surface only when necessary. The total length of snow-covered passages can reach 40 meters. It feeds on dry grass from harvested stacks. An important place in the winter diet is also occupied by the bark of young trees and last year's shoots of shrubs.

Reproduction

The breeding season of the steppe pikas lasts from May to August. The highest intensity is observed in May – June. Females usually have at least two litters per year, 6 to 12 cubs each. Moreover, the largest number of newborns (on average 10) is observed in the second, sometimes in the third broods. Pregnancy is 22-24 days, lactation is 20-21 days. Pishchush are born naked and blind, weighing 6 - 7 g. Ripen on the 8th day; at a weekly age they have a coat . Adults become at the age of five to six weeks.

Young litter of the first litter is resettled upon reaching puberty; young of the last litter, as a rule, remains to live with their parents until spring, when there is a massive resettlement of young pikas. When resettlement and the search for free habitats, an important role is played by sound signals . The cries of animals warn other individuals of the population that this part of the territory is occupied, and if a young male decides to settle there, he will have to join the battle with the owner and expel him. Also in pikas there are special mating signals that attract animals of the opposite sex.

A variety of sounds made by pikas, some of which resemble the bird cry “stump-stump”, “drink-drink”, while others more closely resemble barking, especially heard well in the evening dawn, serve as an indicator of the presence of these animals in this area for naturalists. Also, in their habitats you can see heaps of small green balls of excrement among stones or steppe shrubs.

• Ochotona pusilla pusilla (Pallas, 1769) - European subspecies. It occupies the western part of the range, including the entire European range in the Russian Federation;
• Ochotona pusilla angustifrons (Argyropulo, 1932) - Asian or Siberian subspecies. It lives in the Semipalatinsk, Pavlodar, Karaganda regions of Central Kazakhstan, the eastern part of Betpak-Dala, on the Tarbagatai ridge.

The subspecies of the steppe pika are distinguished by the size (the Siberian subspecies is larger) of the anatomical features of the structure of the skull, the color of the fur (the hair is darker in the European subspecies).

The steppe pika is currently one of the rarest pests of Eurasia . Like other normal herbivores , pikes can cause some damage to pastures and hayfields , reducing their productivity. However, at present, it is rather necessary to protect the pika from human activities, and not vice versa. The steppe pika is listed in the IUCN Red List (VU) ^[4] , red books ^{[4] of} Russia and Kazakhstan. Status - IV category. Pisukhs are protected in several reserves , such as: Orenburgsky State Nature Reserve, Arkaim Museum-Reserve, etc.

The following measures are recommended as protection measures for pikes in other territories: ecologization of steppe agriculture, universal protection of preserved steppe plots, restoration of steppe disturbed lands, preservation of part of long-abandoned deposits on the raw plain of the Volga region, located around preserved steppe ecosystems, their transfer to the category of non-plowed territories; creation of shrubby shelterbelts on overgrowing deposits ^[2] .

• Vertebrates of Russia: Small food
• Steppe Pischa (Ochotona pusilla) on the site "Our Nature"
• Mammals of Russia and Neighboring Territories: Steppe Pika
• Mammals of Russia. Order rabbit-like (lagomorpha)
• Steppe pika: new data
• Steppe pika on the IUCN website
• Steppe pika on zooeco.com.
• Encyclopedia of mammals of the former USSR. Steppe pika
• Roshchina E. E. Ecology of the steppe pika in the Orenburg State Nature Reserve, the dissertation