Central Siberia can be a harsh and challenging environment, but that doesn’t stop Turuchan pikas from having fun. These small, furry mammals are known for their love of all kinds of play — from swinging from branches to chasing each other.
Turuuchan pikas are rock-dwelling creatures that live in areas of the Central Siberian Plateau, a mountainous region in central Russia. Since they live in such a specific, isolated area, not much is known about them — but they are thought to be a subspecies of the northern pika (Ochotona hyperborea) found in northern Asia.
They grow up to 7.8 inches (20 centimeters) long and are covered in dense, black fur, which helps them survive in cold habitats and provides camouflage against predators in the rocky terrain. Their hind legs are strong, making them well-adapted for climbing, jumping, and most importantly, playing.
Between 2020 and 2021, Russian researchers studied a local population of Turuchan pikas on the Primorsky Mountain Ridge in the Irkutsk region to find out how and why they play. They observed the animals jumping up and grabbing branches with their teeth, as well as swinging from bushes and shrubs and rolling from side to side on their backs.
In one moment documented by the biologists, an adult female and an adult male took turns hiding behind rocks and then jumping on each other. Others ran around chasing each other in a game of chase.
The pikas also performed an activity that the researchers named “jerk-uplifting.” They suddenly jumped onto their hind legs, threw their heads back and stretched their front legs forward, often with leaves or lichens in their mouths. It’s not known exactly why they did this, but it seemed like they were playing with their food before eating it.
Interestingly, the scientists observed both young and adult Turuchan pikas playing – indicating that it’s an activity that’s not only enjoyed by youngsters.
Although wild animals sometimes appear to play while engaging in survival behaviors – such as finding food, mating or looking for predators – the pikas’ games appear to be entirely social. In other words, they played simply for fun.
The researchers say this is the first time that any animal from the Lagomorpha order (which includes rabbits and hares) has been observed engaging in all three types of play behavior (kinesthetic, object and social) in the wild.
Kinesthetic play is when individuals actively play in their environment, object play is when they interact with objects such as twigs or rocks, and social play is where they play with each other. “The phenomenon discovered undoubtedly requires further research,” the researchers wrote in the Zoological Journal.