The Journal supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and the Office of the Press Jessica Orwig Read: Irish Air Corps capture amazing video of rare fin whale leaping out of the sea > The reason for their dwindling numbers isn’t clear, but Smith suspects it’s related to disease, increased nearby human activity, possibly combined with climate change.
Over the last decade, the Ili pika population has continued to decline by an estimated 55%. Recent years have not shown any improvement. In their paper, published in 2005 in the journal Oryx, Smith and Wei-Dong, suggested the animal be added to the endangered species list. Although Smith and Wei-Dong did not see a live Ili pika during their expedition, they found the animal’s characteristic fecal deposits and distinctive snow tracks.įrom this, they concluded that the population is not nearly as robust as it used to be. In the early ’90s scientists estimated that about 2000 Ili pikas thrived in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Only 29 of these individual animals have been seen alive, but the Ili pika was not always endangered. He and a group of researchers were out in the Tianshan Mountains for, what else, pika spotting, when around noon they saw one and snapped the iconic picture above. Then, last summer, the man who originally discovered the species in ’83, Weidong Li, had a chance encounter with the elusive creature. After 37 total days of attempted spottings, the two men came up completely empty handed. Despite other family of pika living across the Northern Hemisphere, these mountains are the only place this Ewok lookalike seems to feel at home.Īlthough scientists know where to find the Ili pika, it’s still extremely hard to get on camera.įor example, between 20 two researchers, Andrew Smith at Arizona State University and Li Wei-Dong at the Xinjiang Academy of Environmental Protection in Beijing, completed seven trips to twelve different sites to study population status of the animal. It was first spotted in the Tian Shan Mountains in China, where it makes the holes and cracks of the cliffs its home. The species was first discovered in 1983 and individuals have rarely been seen since. This furry ball is an endangered mammal closely related to rabbits and hares. US jobless claims climb for first time in 5 weeks, to 353,000 'It's a tinderbox ready to explode,' one official said.ĮToro says crypto made up 73% of trading commissions in the last quarter, as retail customers dived inĪ flight attendant says she was too exhausted to report a passenger who shoved her when a flight was overbooked: report
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