Sometimes, being too cute isn't really an advantage. That's the case for the Chinese pika species, which is now facing extinction as people try to capture them to make them pets.
The Ili pika, commonly known as Chinese pika, can be found only in the mountains of northwest China. It looks like a rabbit, but has shorter ears and large rusty-red spots on its forehead, crown and neck.
Conservationist Li Weidong first found it in 1983, but did not document it until 2014. It is considered a new species, yet it's already considered endangered since its population dropped by 70 percent. Only about 1,000 are left.
Li generated a fund to study the Chinese pika, and took photos of it that were profiled in National Geographic. The images went viral as people found the species very cute—calling it "magic bunny"—and Li was able to raise $28,000. He plans to use the money to buy infrared cameras and install them in six different areas.
Now he is worried that the fame and cuteness of the Chinese pika has driven it to extinction because humans want them as pets, according to the Daily Mail.
Some people even offered him money to catch them and artificially breed them.
"Ili pikas, as alpine animals, can't adapt to the environment at low elevations without special facilities," said Li in an interview with CNN. "Would they survive? Their population is already small enough. Human capture will accelerate the extinction."
Li set up some infrared cameras in May to observe the Chinese pika's behavior and their population in the two areas where he first spotted them, but he didn't even find one pika.
"We don't know whether it's because the animals didn't come out during the winter or they were eaten by natural enemies or they died," he said.
