Protect your pikas

Earth has a few “climate sentinels,” or species sensitive to climate change. Polar bears are perhaps the most visible ones. But another delicate species lives just up the highway in the Sierra Nevada. The American pika, a small mammal found in cold high-mountain habitats, is having trouble adapting to changes brought about by global warming. Increased temperatures are shortening the time pikas can gather food and warming can cause them to die from overheating. Because they are disappearing at a rapid rate, they were voted last month as a candidate for protection under the California Endangered Species Act.