Maybe it is because I have been sick the last few days or maybe I have been in the woods too long, but my mind has been running amuck with ideas. It all started when I read this article in The Guardian the other day. I'll be the first to admit I don't understand the whole point of this experiment, but maybe it would help with research on pikas.
Pika are fun little critters only 6-8 inches in size and they are cute! (Don't believe me check out the photos others have posted on Tumblr.) In my life I have seen exactly one, yep one. Not from lack of trying on my part either I've hiked high into the alpine regions of many parks and yet have seen only one of the elusive little buggers.
Problem with trying to see one is they are shy creatures, probably because there are so many things looking to eat them like golden eagles, weasels, foxes, coyotes, etcetera. Also they don't do well with heat. Their normal body temperature is 105F degrees and if their body temperature gets to close to 109F they can die. There is a lot of research being conducted on how climate change is effecting populations of pika and the outlook is not good in most cases. But with the help of ordinary people scientists have been able to map 139 new pika locations.
So what has this got to do with glow in the dark rabbits you ask? What if in response to a warming climate they are foraging more in the evening and less during the day? Small brown animals out in the evening would be very hard to spot. Since pika are the smallest member of the rabbit order would it be possible to insert the jellyfish gene into pikas the same way they did to the rabbits? I'm not suggesting we do it to a lot of them just 4 here and there just to see if they are changing foraging patterns in response to a warmer climate.
Just a thought.
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