Plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) and plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi) are two species of small mammal widely distributed in alpine meadow. The main difference between the two animals is that plateau zokor mainly lives underground and plateau pika mainly lives on the surface of grassland. Their outbreak activities may cause serious degradation of alpine meadow. The disturbance patches formed by the two animals have different effects on the alpine meadow. Which kind of animal outbreak can lead to the cross-scale succession of disturbance patches is a scientific problem that needs to be solved. The patch shape and pattern metric in the field of landscape ecology can be used to compare the patch distribution patterns, thereby understanding the differences in the formation process of various patches. In this study, Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs) were used to capture typical images of plateau pika and plateau zokor population outbreak areas. Plateau pika holes, plateau zokor mounds and their disturbance patches were interpreted. The perimeter and area information of the disturbance patch was obtained. The shape and pattern metrics of disturbance patch were calculated and analyzed. The effects of outbreak activities of plateau pika and plateau zokor on the degradation of alpine meadow were determined. The results indicated that (1) there were significant differences in perimeter-area ratio (PARA), shape index (SHAPE) and fractal dimension index (FRAC) between plateau pika and plateau zokor disturbance patches formed by their outbreak activities (P<0.05). The FRAC of plateau zokor patches was 1.0132±0.0103, which belongs to ordinary regular geometry (circle), and the FRAC of plateau pika patches was 1.1007±0.0576, which belongs to fractal geometry. (2) There was no correlation between the number of plateau pika holes and the patch area of plateau pika (P=0.9677). There was a significantly positive correlation between the number of mounds and the patch area of plateau zokor (P<0.05). (3) The area of plateau zokor patch showed a long tail distribution at statistics, which did not accord with the normal distribution (P<0.01). According to the patch distribution pattern of plateau pika, the succession of patches could be divided into three stages:mound stage, fusion stage and broad-scale stage. The shape and distribution pattern of patches at the mound stage were similar to those of plateau zokor patches. At the fusion stage, the patch distribution was exponential, and the shape and pattern belonged to fractal geometry (FRAC=1.1161). At the broad-scale stage, the patch pattern was large and the shape was complex (SHAPE=4.4202). The patches at the broad-scale stage were formed by the connection between the surrounding fusion stage patches and the core area of black soil degraded patches, which destroyed the dynamic balance between disturbance and restoration of alpine meadow. There were significant differences among PARA, SHAPE and FRAC at the three stages (P<0.05). The foraging activities of plateau pika in the degradation of alpine meadow promoted the formation of patches and formed fractal geometric patches at the fusion stage. The main cross-scale interaction resulting in the degradation of alpine meadow was caused by the outbreak of plateau pika, not plateau zokor. Therefore, it is more important to control the number of plateau pika and restore the disturbance patches of plateau pika than those of plateau zokor.