Pisukha Ilyskaya: description, photo, way of life in a natural environment

There is a creature on Earth, of which very few people know. This animal is very rare and is listed among endangered species. This is Ilyskaya pika, the photo of which is presented in the article. It is sometimes also called a "magic rabbit" or a senovent.

Pikha Ilyskaya is an animal of the genus of mammals of the Pishchukhov family, where it is unique and numbering 31 species. This beautiful unusual animal has not been seen for more than 20 years.

Pishukh Ilyskaya: description

There are 31 species of food. The largest is not enough place on the palm of an adult, but the smallest of them can feel comfortable even on the palm of a small baby. External appearance of the "magic rabbit" is very similar to hamsters.

These animals, closely related to rabbits, have a body length of 18-20 cm at a weight of 75-290 g, depending on the species. The tail of the pits is completely invisible, its length is not more than two centimeters. Ears are round, short. Legs of pikers along the length are almost the same, except that the hind legs are slightly longer than the forelegs. They perform the function of moving along narrow, sometimes vertical slits, located in the rocks, and also necessary for digging holes.

Pads of the fingers are naked, sometimes covered with hairs. Summer fur has a one-color color: gray, brown, red, sandy. In winter, wool is a little lighter, gray tones predominate.

Habitat

The best habitat for food is the place where the cold climate prevails. There are species for life that are suitable for rocky mountain areas, where on the slopes there are many cracks. There some Iliysk pikes dig burrows, for other species it is a beautiful refuge from predators. Large-stony screes often house dandruff and red pikas, while Altai sometimes colonize the roots of trees and piles of fallen trees.

Several types of cenovels with their place of residence chose the steppe. The following pikas are considered steppe inhabitants: Mongolian, Daurian, black-hooded, steppe. Pikushi Iliyskie - colonial creatures, they live in entire settlements, in which there are sometimes from a few dozen to thousands of wonderful animals.

Habitat

This nice-looking "teddy bear" made itself felt only in 1983, when it was discovered by one of the specialists in the protection of natural resources. There are dozens of species of food, the habitat of which are different corners of our planet. Most of them are found in Asia, only two species - in North America, only one species has entered the European countries. In the Tien Shan Mountains, in the northeast of China, at an altitude of 2,800-4,100 meters, there are about a thousand of these tiny animals.

The next mission, when the Iliiskaya pika was recorded by the camera, ended successfully only in 2014 in the summer. This happened on the territory of the Ili-Kazakh Autonomous Region in China. The findings were sent to various media outlets, in which environmentalists encouraged the population to stand up for the protection of unique fauna. The reason for the decline in the population of individuals were climatic anomalies, as well as excessive use of forest lands for agricultural purposes by people.

Pikhaha Ilyskaya: a way of life

It is interesting, why the pita of the Iliyskaya has the second name of the Senate? This was facilitated by a peculiar trait peculiar to these individuals - to make hay preparation for the winter period. The entire procurement process is very smooth and clever. First the pikas cut the grass, then lay it out for further drying, choosing sunny places. If it rains, the grass stalks are hidden. Ready hay is placed in the crevices between the stones, sometimes they are stacked. In winter hibernation animals do not fall.

How much do we know about these small animals? What do they have in common with rabbits? One can note the most significant similarity: for some and others, the main food is woody, herbaceous stems, branches of shrubs and bark of trees. Often both the hare and the pika of the Iliyskaya for food use lichens, moss. For them, this diet is the same.

One of the characteristic features of the pika oriai is its sonorous squeak, by which it warns the other individuals about the dangers. The pika got its name because of these far-audible signals. Its life expectancy is high, if compared with the life of other steppe species of small animals.

Pikha hdaiskaya leads an active lifestyle both in the daytime and at night. The female starts mating at the beginning of May, and at the beginning of June already brings the first litter. The offspring grows very slowly, the reason is the fodder base. There are such females that do not join mating, some give only one litter for the whole season.

Environmentalists have given the name "magic rabbit" to pika because of the fact that it very rarely falls into the field of view of a person. This is the sweetest animal in the world at the moment is on the verge of extinction.