High-Altitude Buddies: Birds & Pikas Team Up on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

On the windswept Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, nature’s ultimate roommates are rewriting the rules of survival. Meet the white-rumped snowfinch and the plateau pika (a rabbit cousin) – two tiny neighbors with a friendship straight out of a wildlife sitcom .

Here’s the deal: Pikas dig complex burrow systems but risk becoming lunch for predators like hawks. Enter the snowfinch – acting as a feathered security guard . While the pika tunnels, the bird perches nearby, sounding alarms if danger approaches. Once construction wraps up? The birds move into vacant pika pads to raise their chicks!

This ‘you scratch my back, I’ll loan you my burrow’ arrangement helps both species thrive in one of Earth’s harshest environments. Scientists say it’s a rare example of cross-species real estate collaboration – proving even at 15,000 feet, teamwork makes the dream work .

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Symbiosis of birds and pikas on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

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