Pika Chew

Does this fuzzy little creature make you say “Aw”? Well, its diet might make you say “Ew”! The rabbit-like animal is called a plateau pika (PEE-kuh), and it has a pretty gross eating habit. Scientists have discovered that these pikas eat yak poop to survive in winter!

Plateau pikas are native to the Tibetan Plateau, a high, flat area in central Asia that’s often called “the roof of the world.” Winters on the plateau are harsh, with temperatures dipping as low as -22 degrees Fahrenheit. 

For years, scientists had wondered how pikas survived in these frigid conditions, when the plants they normally eat are scarce. Unlike some other mammals, pikas don’t store food or hibernate for the winter. They don’t migrate to lower areas where the weather is warmer either.

Researchers in China spent 13 years studying the pikas’ behavior in winter. They found that yak poop is an important source of nourishment for many of these furry rodents. 

Finding food on the plateau in winter isn’t too difficult for yaks, which use their strong horns to break through frozen ground to get to the grass below. The waste of the huge shaggy animals contains leftover nutrients that help nourish the pikas. The discovery shows that in the wild, animals have developed some creative—and gross!—ways to survive.