December 18, 2013

A Roly-Poly Pika Gathers Much Moss


HIGH-FIBER SALAD BAR MAY HELP LAGOMORPHS SURVIVE CLIMATE CHANGE

In some mountain ranges, Earth’s warming climate is driving rabbit relatives known as pikas to higher elevations or wiping them out. But University of Utah biologists discovered that roly-poly pikas living in rockslides near sea level in Oregon can survive hot weather by eating more moss than any other mammal.

“Our work shows pikas can eat unusual foods like moss to persist in strange environments,” says biology professor Denise Dearing, senior author of the new study, published online today in the February 2014 issue of Journal of Mammalogy. “It suggests that they may be more resistant to climate change than we thought.”