Pika (Ochotona princeps) are adorable little alpine rabbits, not rodents, which live in and around talus fields near treeline, harvesting grasses and curing them in the sun, then storing the hay in bunches tucked into the rocks for the winter. Their name is Siberian in origin, apparently pronounced Peeka, like the peaks they live in, as opposed to the way most folks around here say it. These are shy critters, typically, and all you generally know of their presence is their squeaky alarm calls when they see you coming. Their habitat is shrinking as their intolerance for heat drives them ever further up the mountains, until eventually there is no more up.
