It is hard to guess what a Alpine pika weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Alpine pika (Ochotona alpina) on average weights 150 grams (0.33 lbs).
The Alpine pika is from the family Ochotonidae (genus: Ochotona). It is usually born with about 8 grams (0.02 lbs). They can live for up to 3 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 17.5 cm (0′ 7″). On average, Alpine pikas can have babies 2 times per year with a litter size of 3.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The alpine pika (Ochotona alpina) is a species of small mammal in the pika family, Ochotonidae. The summer pelage of different subspecies varies drastically but, in general, it is dark or cinnamon brown, turning to grey with a yellowish tinge during the winter. The alpine pika is found in western Mongolia, eastern Kazakhstan, and Russia (Tuva, Irkutsk, Altai, and Krasnoyarsk), as well as in China (northern Xinjiang and Heilongjiang), in very cold, mountainous regions. It is a generalist herbivore, and mainly forages on mosses, tree branches, pine nuts, and plant stems. It can emit three series of different vocalizations: a long call, a short call, and an alarm call. It is rated as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species.
Animals of the same family as a Alpine pika
We found other animals of the Ochotonidae family:
- Gaoligong pika with a size of 16.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Daurian pika with a weight of 131 grams
- Sardinian pika with a size of 22.5 cm (0′ 9″)
- Gansu pika with a weight of 69 grams
- Royle’s pika with a weight of 260 grams
- Nubra pika with a size of 7.5 cm (0′ 3″)
- Turkestan red pika with a size of 20.8 cm (0′ 9″)
- Chinese red pika with a size of 24.5 cm (0′ 10″)
- Northern pika with a weight of 120 grams
- Ili pika with a size of 20.3 cm (0′ 8″)
Animals with the same weight as a Alpine pika
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Ochotona alpina:
- Western nesomys bringing 155 grams to the scale
- Indian hedgehog bringing 171 grams to the scale
- Brush-tailed rabbit rat bringing 175 grams to the scale
- Carpentarian rock rat bringing 123 grams to the scale
- Black-tailed gerbil bringing 123 grams to the scale
- Creek groove-toothed swamp rat bringing 121 grams to the scale
- New Caledonia flying fox bringing 151 grams to the scale
- Unexpected cotton rat bringing 140 grams to the scale
- Tete veld aethomys bringing 133 grams to the scale
- Mexican ground squirrel bringing 177 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Alpine pika
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Alpine pika:
- Spotted ground squirrel with a size of 14.5 cm (0′ 6″)
- Gray-cheeked flying squirrel with a size of 14.2 cm (0′ 6″)
- Gaoligong pika with a size of 16.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Lowland streaked tenrec with a size of 17.5 cm (0′ 7″)
- Large-scaled mosaic-tailed rat with a size of 15.7 cm (0′ 7″)
- Mouse bandicoot with a size of 20 cm (0′ 8″)
- Small sun squirrel with a size of 19 cm (0′ 8″)
- Small Japanese mole with a size of 14 cm (0′ 6″)
- Dwarf flying fox with a size of 14.1 cm (0′ 6″)
- Knox Jones’s pocket gopher with a size of 15.4 cm (0′ 7″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Alpine pika
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (3) as a Alpine pika:
- Taiwanese brown-toothed shrew
- Brants’s climbing mouse
- Kemp’s gerbil
- Japanese mole
- Kivu long-haired shrew
- Salvin’s spiny pocket mouse
- Common punaré
- Short-nosed harvest mouse
- Cape gerbil
- Baluchistan pygmy jerboa
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Alpine pika
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Alpine pika:
- Pen-tailed treeshrew with an average maximal age of 2.67 years
- Northern short-tailed shrew with an average maximal age of 2.75 years
- Yellow-footed antechinus with an average maximal age of 3.5 years
- Lowland streaked tenrec with an average maximal age of 2.67 years
- Woodland vole with an average maximal age of 2.75 years
- Vinogradov’s jird with an average maximal age of 3.33 years
- Little red kaluta with an average maximal age of 3 years
- South African pouched mouse with an average maximal age of 2.75 years
- Long-tailed pygmy possum with an average maximal age of 3.17 years
- Talas tuco-tuco with an average maximal age of 3 years