They ’re perchance the cutest mammals in the whole of North America , but sadly a recent study has reported the largest local quenching of pika ever record in modern times .
The researchers ' determination , published in the journalPLOS One , revealed that in a known pika habitat , a 165 - square - kilometer ( 64 square Admiralty mile ) region locate in California ’s northern Sierra Nevada mountains , the pikas have disappear . They suspect this is due to heat addition that has become threatening to the small species , which are adapted to cold climates , forcing them to wax higher , searching for more chilled areas to survive .
The investigator survey pika sites throughout the North Lake Tahoe area , particularly the neighborhood experience as the Pluto Triangulum , the area around Mount Pluto that dilute from Lake Tahoe to the Truckee river , between 2011 and 2016 . But there were no mansion showing that pikas were currently located in the Pluto Triangulum .
" The loss of pikas from this great orbit of otherwise suited home ground echoes prehistoric orbit collapses that happened when temperatures increased after the last crank age , " Joseph Stewart , lead generator and PhD campaigner at UC Santa Cruz state in astatement . " This clip , however , we ’re seeing the effects of climate change blossom forth on a scurf of decennary as opposed to millennia . "
" Mount Rose and Desolation Wilderness are still great berth to see pikas , " Stewart added , but ground on the speed of this local extinction the discipline forecasts that by 2050 there could be a 97 percentage lessening in acceptable climate condition for pikas anywhere in the Lake Tahoe region .
Astudy last yearby the US Geological Survey on how clime change was affecting pika populations revealed in California , only 11 of the previously known 29 cony sites were inhabited . Although rock rabbit still exist alfresco of the Sierra Nevada flock , the declivity in this area as a home ground for the furry animals is a wakeup call for the global warming problems we have coming our way .
" Our hope is that merely perplex the Scripture out there that climate modification is causing iconic wildlife to disappear will get people talking and contribute toward political will to reign in and reverse climate alteration , " Stewart say . " There ’s still meter to prevent the worst impact of climate modification . We necessitate our leader to take bluff action now . "
