Helan Mountains
The alpine pika inhabits mountainous areas in western Mongolia bordering the Gobi Desert, eastern Kazakhstan, southern Russia (Tuva, Irkutsk, Altai, and Krasnoyarsk) and China (northern Xinjiang and Heilongjiang). It is found on mountain ranges such as the Altai, Khangai, and Sayan, and is also distributed from the east and south of Lake Baikal eastward to the Amur River drainage. An isolated alpine pika population occurs at the northwest Ningxia-Hexi Zoulang-Gansu border, on the Helan Mountains. "O. a. cinereofusca" is found in Heilongjiang and Russia, while "O. a. nitida" is found in northern Xinjiang, Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan.