ONE DAY ON PIKA'S PEAK

by Ron Hirschi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1986

Supercharged by dynamic, intimate close-up color photography of the small animals high in a field in the Rocky Mountains, One Day on Pika's Peak provides an informative look at the food chain in action. The day opens with some hamster-like pikas storing grasses for the winter. They sound alarms as a weasel mother and her young speed down the mountainside. The alpine climate of a summer day brings out wild-flowers and multi-colored lichens on the rocks and the little animals in the photos are alert and charming. The mother weasel catches and kills a young pika, then a vole and a deer mouse, carrying the kills back to her burrow for her children. At sunset, the weasel family heads off for a new burrow and hunting ground. The mother pika yawns. While not a comforting bedtime book about fuzzy animals, this succeeds through its matter-of-fact acceptance of the predator-prey relationship. An appendix describes the animals mentioned and tells more about what they eat--and who eats them. Index.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Dodd, Mead

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1986

Categories: NONFICTION