This little Pika, Cony or Rock Rabbit of Yellowstone is in reality a diminutive, tailless rabbit. Common in the higher elevations wherever loose rock piles and slides offer suitable locations for his home.
Timid and secretive in nature and possessing a protective coloration that makes them hard to locate in their rocky homes, the pikas are not often noticed by the majority of park visitors. The call of a pika, a squeaky bleat, has an elusive quality that confuses the hearer as to the direction in which it originated.
The best indications of the habitation of the pika are the small stacks of hay among the rocks. He is an industrious little farmer and is usually busy during the summer cutting and curing grass and plant foliage for winter use. This material is first put in the sun to cure, then piled in sheltered places among the rocks where it will be accessible during the winter when the snow has made a protective blanket over the landscape. In protected cavities and runways beneath the rocks, with an ample supply of hay, the pika has nothing to worry about during the winter months and find no need to hibernate. Just what family activities they have during this period is not known.
If an observer remains quiet near their rocky homes he may soon be rewarded by a sight of them running silently about over the rocks, and it may occasionally be possible to approach close enough for a picture.
The young, from three to five in number, are born from late May or early June to early September. Due to their secretive nature and the location of their homes not a great deal is known yet about the home life of the pika.
General description: A short, chunky, apparently tailless rabbit-like animal, ears rounded and of good size; legs short and hind legs very little longer than forelegs. Color of upperparts grayish to buffy, underparts whitish varying to cinnamon-buff. Sexes alike in color and size; about 7½ inches long, height to shoulder 3½ inches and weight 4 to 7 ounces.
Cony or Pika
Where found: Distributed throughout much of the park at elevations above 7,000 feet wherever rock slides and talus slopes are available. Most likely seen around the Golden Gate, Sheepeater Cliffs, cliffs south and west of the Upper Geyser Basin, rockslides along the Dunraven Pass road and other such places. Look for the hay piles as indications. Active during the daytime.