Above 8,000 ft in Colorado, pikas — a tiny, furry animal with massive mouse-like ears — will be seen and heard on climbing and rock-climbing trails.
“After I’m up within the mountains, certainly one of my favourite issues is listening to a pika squeak or seeing one,” Andrew Wells, co-director of the Colorado Pika Undertaking and neighborhood conservation coordinator at Denver Zoo mentioned. “It’s like a burst of pleasure.”
However the pika could also be in danger due to local weather change.
The Colorado Pika Undertaking final month launched an app referred to as “Pika Patrol” that enables individuals to assist wildlife researchers examine pika populations. The app permits informal open air fans to ship information on sightings, calls, scat and different indicators of pika life within the mountains.
“The pika app lets me flip that burst of pleasure into information that helps pika conservation. It’s like a scavenger hunt for the cutest factor on the market.” Wells mentioned.
Pikas are inclined to reside in colder, high-altitude habitats. As temperatures start to rise and snowfall adjustments, the Colorado Pika Undertaking needs to know the way pikas are surviving and the way they are often protected. For now, pika populations seem like secure in Colorado, however their presence in Nevada and Oregon is on the decline, in keeping with the pika challenge’s web site.
“It’s a distinctive alternative for individuals to make observations on how the world is altering round us,” mentioned Johanna Varner, a Colorado Mesa College professor and one of many leaders of the challenge. “One aim for the app is getting extra individuals concerned in making observations in mountain habitats. One other is having the ability to broaden our information assortment. We are able to’t be in every single place on a regular basis. Involving the neighborhood into being eyes, ears and boots on the bottom could possibly be very highly effective in amassing helpful information.”
Members don’t want coaching on pika analysis. The brand new app opens the examine to anybody with a smartphone, Varner mentioned. All the coaching supplies are on the app and will be accessed with out cellphone service.
“A variety of instances, with neighborhood science initiatives, individuals needed to reside in sure areas and volunteer loads of time. What’s cool concerning the app is that it doesn’t matter the place you reside you possibly can insert information,” Varner mentioned. “There’s no time requirement for coaching.”
The information gathered from the app is displayed on Colorado Pika Undertaking’s web site, together with info on the variety of sightings, location of pikas and what number of have been in a single spot.
The Rocky Mountains have been the habitat of pikas for 12,000 years, in keeping with The Nationwide Wildlife Federation. In 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined to increase Endangered Species Act protections to the animal despite the fact that some populations are in decline.
Megan Mueller, with Rocky Mountain Wild and a co-director of the Colorado Pika Undertaking, noticed her first pika on the age of 6. She hopes the challenge helps the animal survive.
“I grew up in Colorado. I can bear in mind the primary time I noticed a pika and the joy I felt. They’re part of what makes the alpine right here in Colorado particular. They’re additionally nice indicators of the well being of our alpine eco-system,” Mueller mentioned. “They’re simply actually cool animals.”