Alpine Pika vs Coast Sedge

Ochotona alpina compared with Carex exilis

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Alpine Pika	Coast Sedge
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Mammalia (Mammals)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order	Lagomorpha (Rabbits & Hares)	Poales (Grasses)
Family	Ochotonidae	Cyperaceae
Genus	Ochotona	Carex
Species	Ochotona alpina	Carex exilis

Conservation Status

Alpine Pika

LC — Least Concern

Coast Sedge

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Alpine Pika	Coast Sedge
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Alpine Pika

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Coast Sedge

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Distributed across Canada, France, and United States.

Alpine Pika

The Alpine Pika (Ochotona alpina) is a species in the genus Ochotona. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Coast sedge (Carex exilis) is a slender, tufted perennial sedge in the family Cyperaceae, native to boggy and peaty habitats in northeastern North America, from Newfoundland and Labrador south through New England and the Great Lakes region to the mid-Atlantic states. It grows in sphagnum bogs, fens, moist sandy peats, and the margins of coastal plain ponds—habitats characterised by low nutrient availability, high moisture, and acidic soils. The species produces narrow, grass-like leaves and small, inconspicuous flower spikes typical of the vast Carex genus, which is one of the largest and most ecologically diverse plant genera on Earth. Coast sedge is assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN, reflecting its distribution across a range of protected coastal plain and boreal wetland habitats in northeastern North America. The coastal plain ponds it inhabits are considered globally rare ecosystems of high botanical interest. Like many sedges, coast sedge provides important habitat structure for invertebrates, breeding birds such as sedge wrens, and small mammals in wetland communities.