pika

[ pahy-kuh ]

noun

1. any of several small, brown to gray tailless mammals of the genus Ochotona, resembling rabbits with short ears and legs and inhabiting western mountains of North America and parts of eastern Europe and Asia.

pika

/ ˈpaɪkə /

noun

1. any burrowing lagomorph mammal of the family Ochotonidae of mountainous regions of North America and Asia, having short rounded ears, a rounded body, and rudimentary tail Also calledcony

Word History and Origins

Origin of pika¹

1820–30; recorded by the German naturalist P.S. Pallas (1741–1811) as the name for the animal in Evenki; compare Evenki (N Baikal dial.) pikačān a name for the tree creeper ( Certhia familiaris ), apparently based on Russian píkatʾ to squeak, peep (compare Russian pishchúkha a name for both the tree creeper and the pika, which emits a shrill sound)

Word History and Origins

Origin of pika¹

C19: from Tungusic piika

Example Sentences

At those temps, the grass that pikas usually eat becomes dry and brittle.

From Science News For Students

It would greatly cut down how long pikas needed to spend out in the cold, Speakman says.

From Science News For Students

To conserve energy, plateau pikas drop their metabolism by about 30 percent.

From Science News For Students

The researchers caught pikas scarfing scat on video, and DNA evidence from stomach contents solidified that this behavior is common.

From Science News

In slide rock and in bouldery moraines up as high as thirteen thousand feet, one finds the pika, or cony.

From Project Gutenberg

And that is how Little Chief the Pika learned to make hay while the sun shone in the days of plenty.

From Project Gutenberg

On the wildest and most desolate peaks and rock piles is found the cony or pika or "rock rabbit" as it is variously called.

From Project Gutenberg

Sense of smell was used by an M. e. muricus that Dixon (1931:72) watched as the ermine followed a three-fourths-grown pika.

From Project Gutenberg

The pikas worked a relay system and the weasel abandoned the trail when the fourth pika became the object of the chase.

From Project Gutenberg