In other words, it’s no one’s idea of home sweet home. Unless you’re a rabbit. Sort of.

Meet the pika.

It’s small. It’s cute. And it actually prefers snow and rock to sun and sand.

Once thought to be an actual rabbit, now it’s known to be a family unto itself, but part of the larger Lagomorph family that does include rabbits.

What does that mean? Well, you might define it as herbivorous mammal with two pairs of upper jaw incisors or, if you don’t speak scientist, it’s basically that odd cousin on your mother’s side that prefers winter to summer. Cool?

It has many rabbit qualities. It doesn’t hibernate. It likes grass. Members of the weasel family give it a hard time.

It’s just smaller than your average bunny. It also makes a fun noise to warn its compatriots about intruders. Annnd it’s a bit more rotund in the ears and, um, the belly. But in a very elegant kind of way. Honestly, pika, you carry your weight well!

Like so many North American mammals, it evolved from Siberian ancestors, crossed over a one-time land bridge and then, after finally having escaped coldest Russia, thought let’s find Little Siberia in the mountains so not to get home sick.

In fact, right here? Some believe it’s the lowest elevation population of this species of pika anywhere.

If they get too warm, they overheat. Some scientists believe they simply die if they are exposed to prolonged temperatures above, say, 25 degrees. See? They really are that odd cousin on your mother’s side.

The rocks they dwell in help keep them cool in summer and act as a cellar for winter.

All summer – summer with a heavy dose of air quotes – the pika scurry about at high speeds, collecting grasses or, depending who you believe, stealing grasses from their harder working neighbour. Some pika can be such leeches.

Anyway.

They eat some of the good grasses while they build their stockpile and while leaving toxic grasses for the winter. That’s because the toxins act like a preservative, and keep the good stuff fresh, while making the bad stuff healthy by the time they need to consume it. Smart little quasi-rabbits.

Also! Pika store marmot feces.

Marmots – in case you don’t know, are the pika’s larger, lazier, more rotund in a less elegant kind of way, rodent neighbour.

The pika’s marmot feces hoarding thing is actually important. That little Molotov cocktail of poop, grass and plant toxins is what fertilizes the soil up here and this soil stores 90% of this eco-region’s carbon and hosts 10,000 types of microorganisms that help filter water and create life.

Soil’s like this crazy global superpower we just treat like dirt. Literally.

And the pika basically help make this soil a superpower thanks to their creepy poop hoarding. ?

In places where pika species were persecuted because they were seen as an annoying, creepy little rodent – rather than a helpful, if creepy, little rabbit – guess what happened?

Soil quality declined, water quality decreased and water quantity lessened. Which, as it turns out, was a big problem for 20% of the world’s population who live downstream of the Tibetan plateau and the ecosystem where pika were being eliminated.

Now we know when you lose pika, you lose carbon storing soil and clean water too! Who knew?!

Which is why we can ill afford to lose any species of pika anywhere.

It’s also why, given their reliance on cold weather, many scientists fear a changing climate will cook pika and that we’ll all suffer without the tiny feces hoarders.

But before you despair and start squeaking like a pika in distress, I’ve got some good news.

Hot off the presses is a 50-year study – talk about foresight and persistence – that suggests pika are way more resilient than we thought, with numerous populations across the Rockies actually holding strong during a period of unprecedented warming!

Go figure. The wee, poop loving sort-of-rabbits might not mind the warmth after all. Good news for them; good news for us!

The future of the really important soil the pika helps fertilize? Well… Never mind. Let’s end on a high note:

Pika are important and they’re doing well. Yay pika!