Plateau Pika

choi

Simon Denyer, China Tried to Drive a Furry Mammal to Extinction. Maybe That Wasn't Such a Good Idea. Washington Post, July 24, 2016.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/w ... 1a41decb_story.html

Note:
(a) "As he gazes out across the rolling grasslands of the Tibetan plateau, where hundreds of his yaks are grazing, 70-year-old Awang Chumpey is less than happy. The land he shares with his neighbors is dotted with thousands of tiny burrows, home to a colony of plateau pika that he blames for eating his animals' grass.  A smaller relative of the rabbit, the plateau pika occupies an almost identical ecological niche to the United States' prairie dog. And it is equally unpopular in many rural communities."
(i)
(A) plateau pika
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plateau_pika
(Ochotona curzoniae; diurnal and non-hibernating mammal weighing about 140g when full grown)
(B) in China called 高原鼠兔
(C) The plateau pika is a species in the larger group ("family" in biology) of pika.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pika
(short limbs, and no external tail; about 15 to 23 centimetres (5.9 to 9.1 in) in body length and weigh between 120 and 350 grams (4.2 and 12.3 oz), depending on species; herbivores)
(ii) prairie dog
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prairie_dog
(genus Cynomys with five species; herbivorous burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America; Despite the name, they are not canines; Prairie dogs are named for their habitat [prairie] and warning call, which sounds similar to a dog's bark;  live mainly at altitudes ranging from 2,000 to 10,000 ft above sea level)

length: 12 – 16 inches.

(b) "Just like the prairie dog, the plateau pika — which has not been wiped out yet, by any means — is what environmentalists call a keystone species, playing a crucial role in the ecosystem that sustains life [in part as prey]. And their burrows, it is now believed, play an important role in absorbing the heavy rains that fall during the summer monsoon, allowing water to percolate slowly through the earth rather than cause dangerous downstream flooding and erosion.

In 2006, it [Chinese government] stepped up the campaign across huge parts of the vast, newly created Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve 三江源国家级自然保护区, now using botulinum toxin.
(c) "Their [prairie dogs'] extermination brought the black-footed ferret to the brink of extinction, with only 18 left in 1986."

black-footed ferret
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-footed_ferret
(native to North America; Up to 90% of the black-footed ferret's diet is composed of prairie dogs)

Quote: "Males measure 500–533 millimetres (19.7–21.0 in) in body length and 114–127 millimetres (4.5–5.0 in) in tail length, thus constituting 22–25% of its body length. Females are typically 10% smaller than males. It weighs 650–1,400 grams (1.43–3.09 lb).