Ili pika - the magical rabbit

Ochotona iliensis, that is the Ili pika is not only probably the cutest rodent, but also one of the most endangered animals in the world. During the past 20 years, the number of individuals of this species declined rapidly (about 70%) and it was considered to be essentially extinct. Today, their population is estimated at less than one thousand and continues to decrease.

The Ili pika belongs to the order of Lagomorphs. It looks like a cousin of the rabbit with short rounded ears and bright-coloured fur. It was discovered in 1983, and due to its rarity, we know only very little about it. It grows to about 20 cm and feeds on plants that it leaves to dry for the winter. We know almost nothing about its way of life. Thanks to this, it is also sometimes nicknamed the “magic rabbit”.

In May 2014, the naturalist Li Weidong, the original discoverer of this species, managed to find the first Ili since its discovery in Northwest China and also one of the last living Ilis ever.

Since due to the global warming Ili is moving to increasingly higher mountain places of the Tian-Shan mountain range in the Xinjiang province. The glaciers are disappearing and the eternal snow remains only at increasingly greater heights. While formerly, the Ilis live at the altitude of around 3,000 m a. s. l., today we won’t find them lower than 4,100 m a. s. l. and they basically have nowhere further to go. This, together with air pollution, is the reason that they’re dying out.

Unlike the authorities, who are doing virtually nothing for their rescue, Li Weidong has been financing research from his own resources and he is trying to save the species. So far however, there are no known measures that would help save the Ili pika, so it’s possible, that they might become extinct only several decades after their discovery. That is even sooner than we even manage to get to know this species at all. We can only hope that the Weidong’s effort will not come in vain and in the end, the Ilis will survive.