National Geographic reported a mammal that's eluded the lenses of researchers across the world for well over two decades was finally photographed late last year.

It was first seen in the Tian Shan Mountains in China where it makes holes and cracks in the cliffs that are its home. Despite other families of pika living across the Northern Hemisphere, these mountains are the only place this Ewok lookalike seems to feel at home.

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Ili Pika (Ochotona iliensis) is a small, mountain-dwelling mammal that looks like a teddy bear. Researchers, however, don't have a clue about the ecology of the animal, its behavior and breeding patterns.

Ili Pika is directly related to rabbits and are quite rare. While researchers know the Ili Pika lives in the Tianshan Mountains in northwestern China, they have been unable to photograph any specimen for the past 20 years -- until last summer, that is.

The animal was discovered in 1983 by accident by scientist Weidong Li, who currently works at the Xinjiang Institute for Ecology and Geography. Since its discovery, only 29 Ili Pika have been spotted. The last time one was photographed was in the mid-1990s.

In the summer of 2014, a team of researchers, including Li, went on an expedition in search of the Ili Pika. An Ili Pika was seen hiding behind a rock as the team was busy setting up camera traps to take a picture of the creature. Li quickly took photos of the rare mammal once again.

Current estimates place the Ili Pika population at fewer than the 2,000 individuals earlier thought to be living in China. Strangely, the Chinese government has not listed the Ili Pika as a creature vulnerable to extinction. It lists the animal only as an endangered species.

In the not too recent past, the government even proposed to exterminate the Ili Pika because it was considered a pest.

In a published study in 2005 in the journal, Oryx, Andrew Smith of Arizona State University and Li Wei-Dong at the Xinjiang Academy of Environmental Protection in Beijing, suggested the animal be added to the endangered species list.

"We recommend that the Ili Pika's Red List status be changed from Vulnerable to Endangered," they wrote in the paper.

Over the last decade, the Ili Pika population has continued to decline by an estimated 55 percent 

TagsRare Cute Chinese Ili Pika Comes Out After 20 Years, Ili Pika, Chinese Ili Pika, Rabbit, teddy bear, endangered species