Yesterday I found this article and photograph at Yahoo and National Geographic
as well as others. This is so interesting, to see one of the rarest animals in
the world, that I thought I like to share it with you and add some information.

Very cool animal, looks like mix of a rabbit and a tiny bear.

Researchers just recently photographed this extremely cute, endangered mammal
for the first time in 20 years.

  Tianshan Mountains, China.

This furry ball of cuteness is an endangered mammal closely related to rabbits
and hares. The species was first discovered in 1983 and individuals have rarely
been seen since.

For more than 20 years, the Ili pika (Ochotona iliensis), a type of tiny,
mountain-dwelling mammal with a teddy bear face, had eluded scientists in the
Tianshan Mountains, on the border between Kyrgyzstan and China.
There it makes the holes and cracks of the cliffs its home.

 
Tianshan Mountain Range, Northwestern China, on the border to Kyrgystan. Click on pics to supersize.

In the Tianshan Mountains.

Despite other family of pika living across the northern hemisphere, these mountains
are the only place this Ewok lookalike seems to feel at home.
Although scientists know where to find the Ili pika, it’s still extremely hard to
get on camera.

  Tianshan Mountains.

For example, between 2002 and 2003 two researchers, Andrew Smith at
Arizona State University and Li Wei-Dong at the Xinjiang Academy of Environmental
Protection in Beijing, completed seven trips to twelve different sites to study
population status of the animal.

After 37 total days of attempted spottings, the two men came up completely empty
handed. Then, last summer, the man who originally discovered the species in ’83,
Weidong Li, had a chance encounter with the elusive creature. He and a group of
researchers were out in the Tianshan Mountains for, what else, pika spotting, when
around noon they saw one and snapped the iconic picture above/below.

Only 29 of these individual animals have been seen alive. A rare find, indeed!