heathen! it’s a pika! they’re not mice (rodents), they’re lagomorphs (bunnies). they live on top of mountains, because they’re from back in the ice age, and only mountain tops have the appropriate climate anymore.
they don’t hibernate in the winter, so they spend the summer gathering flowers and hay they dry their crops in the sun and then store them in underground burrows to eat all winter.
they also hop around and shout “meep meep meep” at you
A pika? wait, as in…? Are you fuckers telling me that Pikachu was a god damn RABBIT this entire time!?!?!?!?!?
Actually, probably!
I can’t speak to the intentions of the original creator but there are several species of Pika (Pronounced ‘Pike-ah’ jsyk) the one pictured above is the American Pika, native to my elevated back yard of the Colorado Rockies.
The Northern Pika (Ochotona hyperborea) is native to Northern Asia and has a swath of it’s range in the mountains of Northern Japan, where it has been nicknamed The Japanese Guinea Pig, which is about as taxonomically incorrect as calling it a mouse- they’re closest to rabbits.
Another fun fact: Pika call to each other (really, yell at each other to STAY OUTTA MY YARD) with a high-pitched call that…
…Really does sound like it’s saying “Pi! Pi!” doesn’t it?
