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Name : Turuchan cony ( Ochotona turuchanensis )
Where it lives : Mountains of central Siberia
Turuchan pikas live in an isolated region of Siberia, making them difficult to study.
What it eats : Plants and vegetation , including nettles
Why it ’s awful : Central Siberia may be a abrasive and challenging environment , but that does n’t stop the Turuchan pika from have fun . These small , fluffy mammals are bed for their erotic love of all types of drama — from swing from branches to furrow each other .
Turuchan pikas are rock - dwell creatures that live in areas of the Central Siberian Plateau , a mountainous region in central Russia . Because they live in such a specific , isolated area , not much is known about them — but they are consider to be a subspecies of the northern pika ( Ochotona hyperborea ) establish across Northern Asia . They grow up to 7.8 in ( 20 centimeters ) long and are covered in dense , dark fur , which helps them survive in cold habitats and provides disguise against predatory animal in the rough terrain . They have strong hind legs , making them well - adapted for climbing , stand out and , importantly , playing .
Between 2020 and 2021 , Russian researchers take a local universe of Turuchan mouse hare on the Primorsky Mountain Ridge in the Irkutsk region to find out how and why they play . They observed the animals leap up and snaffle branches with their teeth , as well as swinging from bushes and shrubs and rolling from side to side on their back .
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In one moment documented by the life scientist , an grownup female person and an grownup male took turns conceal behind rock ‘n’ roll and then jumping out at one another . Others scampered after each other in a game of chase .
The pikas also engaged in an activity researchers dub " jerk - uplifting . " They on the spur of the moment alternate onto their hind leg , switch their top dog back and dilute their front peg forward , often with leaves or lichen in their mouth . It ’s not known precisely why they did this , but they seemed to be play with their solid food before eating it .
— Hammer - headed bat : The African fruit bat that look like a gargoyle and contain vomit pageants
— Sun bear : The little carnivore that look so similar to humans they ’ve been mistaken for people wearing costumes
— sleek Myrmecobius fasciatus : The midget , boxing testis of fur
Intriguingly , scientist spot both young and adult Turuchan pikas playing — suggesting it ’s an activity not just enjoyed by juvenile .
Although wild animals sometimes appear to wager while engaging in natural selection behaviors — like finding food , mating or keeping a sentinel for predators — the pikas ' games seemed to be purely social . In other words , they play just for playfulness .
research worker say this is the first meter that any animal from the Lagomorpha order ( which includes cony and hares ) has been maintain lock in all three types of play demeanor ( locomotor , target and societal ) in the wild . Locomotor play is when individuals represent actively in their environs , object play is when they interact with items like branchlet or Rock , and social play is where they dally with each other . " The discovered phenomenon undoubtedly requires further research,“researchers wrote in the Zoological Journal .
