Helan Mountains
The Helan Shan pika is known only from the Helan Mountains in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of China which lie between the semi-arid Ordos Desert and the Yellow River Valley to the east and the Badain Jaran Desert to the west. Upland areas are clad in coniferous forests of dragon spruce ("Picea asperata") with a lower layer of birch ("Betula" spp.) and poplar ("Populus" spp.). On the more exposed, open slopes, scrub species include the Manchu rose ("Rosa xanthina"), "Caragana" spp., the Gansu elm ("Ulmus glaucescens"), the hazel-hornbeam ("Ostryopsis davidiana"), the yellowhorn ("Xanthoceras sorbifolia") and the temple juniper ("Juniperus rigida"). The Helan Shan pika occupies rocky outcrops among the trees and scrub and has been found up to deep in the entrances of disused mines.