A brief history of Great Basin pikas

The recent discovery that seven of the 25 historically described populations of American pikas (Ochotona princeps Richardson) in the Great Basin of western North America appear to be extinct (Beever et al., 2003) has added emphasis to earlier warnings that Great Basin populations of this animal are highly vulnerable (McDonald & Brown, 1992). Here, I use archaeological and palaeontological records to stress that these recent losses are part of a Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA