Category: Mammals
This species of pika is active during the daytime and found in the mountains of Western North America. They are small, herbivorous cousins of rabbits and hares. They can often be seen inhabiting piles of rock in alpine areas and eat a wide variety of green plants including grasses, thistles, sedges, and fireweed. When caching food for winter they stay very busy, making upwards of 100 trips a day gathering plant material for their dens. They are quite selective regarding the nutritional content of the food they collect for storage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_pika
The age-defying Brandt’s bat
In most mammals, larger size correlates with longer lifespan, but that is not the case with the Brandt’s bat, who can live up to 41 years and weigh less than 0.28 ounces! These bats resemble larger, longer-lived mammals in that they mature slowly and have fewer offspring – but the size difference is dramatic: a female Bonobo lives for approximately 40 years as well, but she outweighs the Brandt’s bat by a factor of 3,771! Oddly enough, it is suspected that the mutated gene that causes the bat’s dwarfish size is the same one that leads to its long lifespan. Studying animals with unusual longevity like the Brandt’s bat does more than just satisfy our curiosity, it could lead to longer, healthier lifespans for humans and other animals!
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