American pikas are cold-adapted relatives of rabbits that can overheat and die within hours if exposed to warm temperatures for too long, which ties them tightly to the rocky talus slopes and alpine boulder fields of Glacier National Park and the Absaroka-Beartooth region rather than any of Montana’s lower, warmer terrain. With 633 records, this is one of the better-documented small mammals in this rank range.
Records climb sharply into an August peak, more than five times the June count, tracking both the short summer window when alpine trails are snow-free and the season when pikas are busiest gathering “haypiles” of grass and wildflowers to cache for winter. NatureServe rates the species secure (S5) in Montana, a healthier statewide picture than the pika’s well-documented struggles at the warmer, lower edges of its range farther south.
Full species profile
