{"id":354373,"date":"2026-01-19T15:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T09:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=354373"},"modified":"2026-01-19T15:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T09:36:21","slug":"royles-pika-ochotona-roylei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/royles-pika-ochotona-roylei\/","title":{"rendered":"Royle\u2019s pika (Ochotona roylei)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"s-char-text\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>News: <\/strong>Royle\u2019s pika of the Himalayan highlands which goes about its life unaware that scientists now view it as a sentinel of climate change.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify\">About Royle\u2019s pika (Ochotona roylei)<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_354390\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-354390\" style=\"width: 427px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-354390\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-DTE-3.jpg?resize=427%2C236&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Royle\u2019s pika (Ochotona roylei)\" width=\"427\" height=\"236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-DTE-3.jpg?resize=300%2C166&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-DTE-3.jpg?resize=1024%2C566&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-DTE-3.jpg?resize=768%2C425&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Source-DTE-3.jpg?w=1522&amp;ssl=1 1522w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-354390\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; DTE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\"><b>Royle&#8217;s pika <\/b>is also called the <b>Himalayan mouse hare<\/b>\u00a0or\u00a0<b>hui shutu is a species of pika.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Scientific name:<\/strong> Ochotona roylei<\/li>\n<li><strong>Habitat<\/strong>: They <strong>commonly inhabit rocky mountain slopes, open rocky edges, and forests<\/strong> dominated by conifer trees.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Distribution<\/strong>: Their distribution spans the <strong>Himalayan region,<\/strong> extending from <strong>northwestern Pakistan through Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in India, and into Nepal and Tibet.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Characteristics<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">They have a<strong> slightly arched head, a rufous-grey body, a chestnut-colored head<\/strong>, and <strong>sparse hair in front of their ears<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">They <strong>measure about 17\u201322 centimetres in length.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>They are a <strong>crepuscular species,<\/strong> meaning it is <strong>most active during early morning<\/strong> and <strong>evening hours<\/strong> and <strong>remains inactive <\/strong>during<strong> midday <\/strong>to avoid heat stress.<\/li>\n<li><strong>They do not build its own burrows<\/strong> but uses natural crevices, narrow cracks, and existing burrow systems.<\/li>\n<li>Unlike many mountain mammals<strong>, they do not hibernate.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Diet<\/strong>: They are <strong>herbivore and folivore,<\/strong> feeding <strong>mainly on grasses, leaves, and other plant materials.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Ecological Role:<\/strong> They play a <strong>vital role in high-altitude food webs<\/strong> as they are important prey species for predators especially during harsh winters when other prey is scarce.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Conservation Status<\/strong>: IUCN: <strong>Least Concern<\/strong><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Threat:<\/strong> Habitat loss and human habitation in hilly areas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Royle\u2019s pika of the Himalayan highlands which goes about its life unaware that scientists now view it as a sentinel of climate change. About Royle\u2019s pika (Ochotona roylei) Royle&#8217;s pika is also called the Himalayan mouse hare\u00a0or\u00a0hui shutu is a species of pika.\u00a0 Scientific name: Ochotona roylei Habitat: They commonly inhabit rocky mountain slopes,&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/royles-pika-ochotona-roylei\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Royle\u2019s pika (Ochotona roylei)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,12039,11834],"tags":[11872,10504],"class_list":["post-354373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","category-species-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-down-to-earth","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}