Plateau Pika profile
The Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is a medium-sized lagomorph (c140g) that occurs mainly on the high desert plateaux of China, but also in Tibet, Pakistan, India and Nepal. They look a bit like Gerbils but are in the same family as rabbits and hares, but have oddly human ears. It gets really cold in winter on the Tibetan Plateau yet they do not hibernate, being active year round. They are also only active during the day when they feed on grasses and sedges, sleeping in their burrows at night. They also occur in extraordinary abundance and are the main prey item for most of the predators that occur on the plateau (Tibetan Fox, Pallas's Cat, Chinese Mountain Cat, Saker Falcon, Upland Buzzard, Steppe Eagle, Eagle Owl). I photographed this individual with a magnificent Roman-nose profile in the snow at Rouergai, nearly 4000m asl on the Tibetan Plateau. There was a blanket of snow on the ground but they prepare for that by keeping a store of hay in their burrows, to get them through the times when snow covers their feeding grounds.
One source on the internet says that the scientific name curzoniae is dedicated to Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, but he was not even born when Hodgson first named this species in 1848. My friend Malcolm Peaker www.flickr.com/photos/16609079@N04/ solved the conundrum here zoologyweblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/plateau-pika-o-curzoni... by looking at the original description and noting it was dedicated to "the Hon'ble Mrs Curzon" who was almost certainly Augusta Latham Hallifax (1837-1917). She married the Honourable Ernest George Curzon (1828-1885) on 14 January 1856 at Umbala (now Ambala), 120 miles north of Delhi. His wife had the courtesy title "Honourable" and Hodgson named the Pika just 15 months after she acquired that title.
Plateau Pika profile
The Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is a medium-sized lagomorph (c140g) that occurs mainly on the high desert plateaux of China, but also in Tibet, Pakistan, India and Nepal. They look a bit like Gerbils but are in the same family as rabbits and hares, but have oddly human ears. It gets really cold in winter on the Tibetan Plateau yet they do not hibernate, being active year round. They are also only active during the day when they feed on grasses and sedges, sleeping in their burrows at night. They also occur in extraordinary abundance and are the main prey item for most of the predators that occur on the plateau (Tibetan Fox, Pallas's Cat, Chinese Mountain Cat, Saker Falcon, Upland Buzzard, Steppe Eagle, Eagle Owl). I photographed this individual with a magnificent Roman-nose profile in the snow at Rouergai, nearly 4000m asl on the Tibetan Plateau. There was a blanket of snow on the ground but they prepare for that by keeping a store of hay in their burrows, to get them through the times when snow covers their feeding grounds.
One source on the internet says that the scientific name curzoniae is dedicated to Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, but he was not even born when Hodgson first named this species in 1848. My friend Malcolm Peaker www.flickr.com/photos/16609079@N04/ solved the conundrum here zoologyweblog.blogspot.com/2018/01/plateau-pika-o-curzoni... by looking at the original description and noting it was dedicated to "the Hon'ble Mrs Curzon" who was almost certainly Augusta Latham Hallifax (1837-1917). She married the Honourable Ernest George Curzon (1828-1885) on 14 January 1856 at Umbala (now Ambala), 120 miles north of Delhi. His wife had the courtesy title "Honourable" and Hodgson named the Pika just 15 months after she acquired that title.