Ochotona

A pika is a small, mountain-dwelling mammal native to Asia and North America. With short limbs, a very round body, an even coat of fur, and no external tail, they resemble their close relative the rabbit, but with short, rounded ears. The large-eared pika of the Himalayas and nearby mountains lives at elevations of more than 6,000 m (20,000 ft).

Ochotona

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
pikaPBDB
Sits inside
OchotonidaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Ochotonidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Ochotonidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 15.98 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 13 of 138 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 40 of 138 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 84 of 138 occurrencesPleistocene16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences10–9.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.9–9.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.3–8.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.8–8.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.2–7.7 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences7.7–7.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences7.1–6.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.6–6.0 Mya — about 2 occurrences6.0–5.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences5.5–4.9 Mya — about 7 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 9 occurrences4.4–3.8 Mya — about 8 occurrences3.8–3.3 Mya — about 7 occurrences3.3–2.7 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.7–2.2 Mya — about 10 occurrences2.2–1.6 Mya — about 10 occurrences1.6–1.1 Mya — about 12 occurrences1.1–549 ka Mya — about 20 occurrences549 ka–0 Mya — about 35 occurrences11.63 Mya11.7 ka16.5 Mya0 Mya

138 occurrences of Ochotona on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

138 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

10 formations

Zanda — 31.42°N, 79.75°EZanda — 31.57°N, 79.87°EZanda — 31.48°N, 79.80°EChikoi — 51.03°N, 106.65°EKuchurgan sands — 46.83°N, 29.95°EKuchurgan sands — 47.08°N, 29.85°EPorsuk — 39.52°N, 31.67°EPorsuk — 39.52°N, 31.65°EMcKay — 45.50°N, 118.80°WCape Deceit — 66.60°N, 161.90°WKhapry — 47.24°N, 39.71°EKuyal'nikian — 46.46°N, 30.73°EBahe — 34.15°N, 109.33°ESinap — 40.33°N, 32.69°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Ochotona has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 118 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ochotona and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Ochotona and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,256 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 123 sites for Ochotona, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

67 references

Each of the 138 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 55 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Ochotona

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itOchotonidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Link 1795