CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -New species of pika named Ochotona sikimaria discovered in Sikkim. Scientists have discovered a new species of Pika, a mammal belonging to the rabbit and hare family in the Himalayas in Sikkim.

Detailed explanation-2: -Pikas inhabit mountainous regions throughout the western United States and Canada: the Rocky Mountains from northern New Mexico to central British Columbia, the Great Basin, and the Sierra Nevada of California through the Cascade Range of Oregon and Washington.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Ladak pika (Ochotona ladacensis), also known as the Ladakh pika, is a species of mammal in the family Ochotonidae found in China, India, and Pakistan.

Detailed explanation-4: -The new species, Sikkim pika, is also genetically distinct from its sister species, the Plateau pika (O. curzoniae, shown in the photograph) that occurs in the Tibetan plateau. Photo by Andrey Lissovsky.

Detailed explanation-5: -Two species reside in North America, the rest being found primarily throughout Central Asia; 23 of them live entirely or partly in China, especially the Tibetan plateau. There are two distinctly different ecological niches occupied by pikas.