The mountain peaks with traces of snow and lack of vegetation marked the area as a high alpine environment.Ībout a half mile in, the group stopped at a patch of big, broken rocks, called a talus. The crew hiked out of the parking lot and down a nearby trail. “But a pika, you’re looking for something like the size of a russet potato, really fluffy, gray or brown, Mickey Mouse ears, no tail.” Because oftentimes, you’ll see chipmunks or ground squirrels hanging up here and it’s honestly pretty easy to confuse the two,” he said. “The best way to distinguish them is that they do not have a tail.
But if you haven’t, Wells said they’re pretty distinctive. If you’ve ever been hiking above treeline, you’ve probably seen or heard the critters. “You are joining a long tradition of pika patrollers, scouring the Rocky Mountains of Colorado for pika and helping us to learn about them and ensure that we are aware of the trajectory of them in Colorado,” said Alex Wells, citizen science project specialist at the Denver Zoo and a co-director of Colorado Pika Project. They discussed the species, its current status, and the community science projects that will help us protect this adorable species.On a rainy morning in late June, a group of about 30 people gathered in a parking lot off Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. Watch last year’s Pika Power Hour and Ask Me Anything at noon with Jo Varner from Colorado Mesa University and Megan Mueller from Rocky Mountain Wild.Color in your own American pika, and this one too! Consider sending it to us and we’ll post it on our social media.Draw an American Pika in 6 Easy Steps! Consider sending it to us and we’ll post it on our social media.Take the most effective ways to curb climate change interactive quiz to see some solutions.Donate to the Front Range Pika Project to support our pika field research.Sign up to volunteer with the Front Range Pika Project, our citizen science project that studies the effects of climate change on American pika.Adopt a pika! A pika adoption helps fund our pika field research and includes an adorable American pika plush animal and personalized certificate of adoption.“American pika,” from Kids’ Inquiry of Diverse Species.
“Pika survival rates dry up with low moisture,” from The Ecological Society of America.“To save climate-sensitive pikas, conservation efforts need to get local,” from NOVA.
Rocky Mountain Wild is partnering with Wild Bear Nature Center and their Climate Action Sundays to offer this virtual and live presentation. The Front Range Pika Project is a partnership of Rocky Mountain Wild and Denver Zoo. Following the Zoom presentation, participants who are in-person at Wild Bear Nature Center will have the opportunity to test out the app (Beta version), sign up to volunteer, and even adopt a plush pika to help fund the research. You will also learn about a new smartphone app called Pika Patrol that you can use to help us with our research by recording pika sightings throughout the Rockies. Learn how the Front Range Pika Project, a community science project in our own backyard, is significantly advancing scientific understanding of pikas, and how you can become involved. Join Rocky Mountain Wild’s Senior Conservation Biologist, Megan Mueller, (via Zoom) for a discussion of pika ecology and the potential impacts of climate change on pikas. Rising temperatures and reduced snowpack may change the environmental conditions this cold-loving species needs to survive. The American pika, that adorable little mammal that greets alpine hikers with its distinctive “Eeep!”, is facing an uncertain future in the Rocky Mountains.
PIKA MOUSE FREE
Share: Feel free to invite people with the Facebook event page! Registration: Register for in-person at Wild Bear Nature Center (20 Lakeview Dr, Unit 107, Nederland, CO 80466) or virtual on Zoom! Join us and our friends at Wild Bear Nature Center for the live event Tal-us About Pikas. Here are some things you can do to learn more about American pikas: Join Us:
0 kommentar(er)
