Saiga antelope: Difference between revisions

Saiga
	File:Mongolia Saiga tatarica.jpg
	Male saiga (Saiga tatarica)
Conservation status
	; Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Antilopinae
Genus:	Saiga
Species:	S. tatarica
Binomial name
	Saiga tatarica; (Linnaeus, 1766)
	Reconstructed range (white) and current distribution of the two subspecies Saiga tatarica tatarica (green) and S. t. mongolica (red)

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The saiga (Saiga tatarica) is a critically endangered antelope which originally inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe zone from the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains and Caucasus into Dzungaria and Mongolia. They also lived in Beringian North America during the Pleistocene. Today, the dominant subspecies (S. t. tatarica) is only found in one location in Russia (steppes of the northwest Precaspian region) and three areas in Kazakhstan (the Ural, Ustiurt and Betpak-dala populations). A proportion of the Ustiurt population migrates south to Uzbekistan and occasionally Turkmenistan in winter. It is extinct in China and southwestern Mongolia. It was hunted extensively in Romania and Moldavia until it was extinct in these regions in the end of the 18th century. The Mongolian subspecies (S. t. mongolica) is found only in western Mongolia.^[2] Some sources consider the Mongolian subspecies to be a distinct species, the Mongolian saiga (Saiga borealis).^[3]

Physical characteristics

The saiga typically stands 0.6–0.8 m (2 ft 0 in – 2 ft 7 in) at the shoulder and weighs between 36 and 63 kg (79 and 139 lb). The horned males are larger than the hornless females. Their lifespans range from 6 to 10 years. The saiga is recognizable by an extremely unusual, over-sized, flexible nose structure, the proboscis. During summer migrations the saigas' nose helps filter out dust kicked up by the herd and heats up the animals blood. In the winter it heats up the frigid air before it is taken to the lungs.

Habitat and behavior

Distinctive face of saiga antelope in profile

Saigas form very large herds that graze in semideserts, steppes, grasslands and possibly open woodlands eating several species of plants, including some that are poisonous to other animals. They can cover considerable distances and swim across rivers, but they avoid steep or rugged areas. The mating season starts in November, when stags fight for the possession of females. The winner leads a herd of five to 50 females. In springtime, the mothers give birth to two (in two thirds of all cases) or one single foal.

Distribution

File:MSU V2P1a - Saiga tatarica carcass.png

Remains of saiga killed by a pair of wolves at a waterhole. Chu river valley, Kazakhstan. 3 November 1955.

During the Ice Age, the saiga ranged from the British Isles through Central Asia and the Bering Strait into Alaska and Canada's Yukon and Northwest Territories. By the classical age they were apparently considered a characteristic animal of Scythia, judging from the historian Strabo's description of an animal called the "Kolos" that was "between the deer and ram in size" and was (understandably but wrongly) believed to drink through its nose.^[4] At the beginning of the 18th century, it was still distributed from the shores of the Black Sea, the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, and the northern edge of the Caucasus into Dzungaria and Mongolia.

After a rapid decline they were nearly completely exterminated in the 1920s, but they were able to recover. By 1950, two million of them were found in the steppes of the USSR. Their population fell drastically following the collapse of the USSR due to uncontrolled hunting and demand for horns in Chinese medicine. At one point, some conservation groups, such as the World Wildlife Fund, encouraged the hunting of this species, as its horn was presented as an alternative to that of a rhinoceros.^[5]

Today, the populations have again shrunk enormously — as much as 95% in 15 years,^[6] — and the saiga is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN. An estimated total number of 50,000 saigas survive today in Kalmykia, three areas of Kazakhstan and in two isolated areas of Mongolia. Another small population in the Pre-Caspian region of Russia remains under extreme threat.^[7]

Cherny Zemli Nature Reserve was created in Russia's Kalmykia Republic in the 1990s to protect the local saiga population. Kalmykia's president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced 2010 as the Year of Saiga in Kalmykia. In Kazakhstan, the number of saiga was recently found to be increasing, from around 21,000 at the beginning of this millennium to around 81,000 in January 2010.^{[citation needed]} However, in May 2010, an estimated 12,000 of the 26,000 Saiga population in the Ural region of Kazakhstan have been found dead. Although the deaths are currently being ascribed to pasteurellosis, an infectious disease that strikes the lungs and intestines, the underlying trigger remains to be identified.^[8] In May 2015, what may be the same disease broke out in three northern regions of the country, killing 85,000 as of May 22. ^[9]

Kazakhstan in November 2010 reaffirmed a ban on hunting saiga antelopes, and extended this ban until 2021, as the Central Asian nation seeks to save the endangered species.^[10]

The Mongolian saiga (S. t. mongolica) is found in a small area in western Mongolia around the Sharga and Mankhan Nature Reserves.^[11]

Currently, only the Moscow Zoo and Askania-Nova keep saigas.^[12] Cologne Zoological Garden and San Diego Zoo had them in the past. Pleistocene Park in northern Siberia plans to introduce the species.

Conservation

Stuffed saiga herd at The Museum of Zoology, St. Petersburg

The horn of the saiga antelope is used in traditional Chinese medicine, and can sell for as much as $150.^[13] Demand for the horns have wiped out the population in China, where the saiga antelope is a Class I protected species, and drives poaching and smuggling.

Under the auspices of the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), also known as the Bonn Convention, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Concerning Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use of the Saiga Antelope was concluded and came into effect 24 September 2006.^[14] The saiga's decline being one of the fastest population collapses of large mammals recently observed, the MoU aims to reduce current exploitation levels and restore the population status of these nomads of the Central Asian steppes.

In June 2014, Chinese customs at the Kazakh border uncovered 66 cases containing 2,351 saiga antelope horns, estimated to be worth over Y70.5 million (US$11 million).^[15] At that price, each horn would cost over US$4,600.

References

^ Template:IUCN2012.2
^ "Saiga/mongolian Saiga (Saiga tatarica)". Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered. The Zoological Society of London. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
^ Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 688. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
^ Strabo (25 September 2012). "Book VII, Chapter 4, Paragraph 8". Geography. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
^ Ellis, Richard (2004). No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species. New York: Harper Perennial. p. 210. ISBN 0-06-055804-0. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
^ "Welcome to the Saiga Conservation Alliance". Saiga Conservation Alliance. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
^ "Emergency appeal: saigas of the pre-Caspian region of Russia under extreme threat". Saiga Conservation Alliance. 18 March 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
^ "Mystery over mass antelope deaths in Kazakhstan". BBC News. 28 May 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
^ "Saiga Antelope Death Toll In Kazakhstan Reaches 85,000". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
^ "Kazakhstan extends Saiga antelope hunting ban until 2021". Silk Road Intelligencer. 19 January 2011. Archived from the original on 29 July 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
^ Mallon, David P.; Kingswood, Steven Charles (2001). Antelopes: Part 4 - North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia: Global Survey and Regional Action Plans. International Union for Conservation of Nature. p. 164. ISBN 2831705940. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
^ "Western saiga (Russian saiga)". Zootierliste. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
^ See Wild Russia
^ "Memorandum of Understanding concerning Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use of the Saiga Antelope (Saiga spp)" (PDF). Convention on Migratory Species. 25 September 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
^ (Chinese) 新疆霍尔果斯海关破获一起羚羊角走私案天山网 2014-06-23

External links

[iucn-1] Template:IUCN2012.2

[2] "Saiga/mongolian Saiga (Saiga tatarica)". Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered. The Zoological Society of London. Retrieved 19 December 2012.

[3] Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 688. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.

[4] Strabo (25 September 2012). "Book VII, Chapter 4, Paragraph 8". Geography. Retrieved 19 December 2012.

[EllisNTB-5] Ellis, Richard (2004). No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species. New York: Harper Perennial. p. 210. ISBN 0-06-055804-0. Retrieved 19 December 2012.

[6] "Welcome to the Saiga Conservation Alliance". Saiga Conservation Alliance. Retrieved 19 December 2012.

[7] "Emergency appeal: saigas of the pre-Caspian region of Russia under extreme threat". Saiga Conservation Alliance. 18 March 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2012.

[8] "Mystery over mass antelope deaths in Kazakhstan". BBC News. 28 May 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2012.

[9] "Saiga Antelope Death Toll In Kazakhstan Reaches 85,000". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.

[10] "Kazakhstan extends Saiga antelope hunting ban until 2021". Silk Road Intelligencer. 19 January 2011. Archived from the original on 29 July 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2012.

[11] Mallon, David P.; Kingswood, Steven Charles (2001). Antelopes: Part 4 - North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia: Global Survey and Regional Action Plans. International Union for Conservation of Nature. p. 164. ISBN 2831705940. Retrieved 19 December 2012.

[12] "Western saiga (Russian saiga)". Zootierliste. Retrieved 19 December 2012.

[13] See Wild Russia

[14] "Memorandum of Understanding concerning Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use of the Saiga Antelope (Saiga spp)" (PDF). Convention on Migratory Species. 25 September 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2012.

[15] (Chinese) 新疆霍尔果斯海关破获一起羚羊角走私案天山网 2014-06-23

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 ==Physical characteristics==
-The saiga typically stands {{convert|0.6|–|0.8|m|abbr=on}} at the shoulder and weighs between {{convert|36|and|63|kg|lb|abbr=on}}. The horned males are larger than the hornless females. Their lifespans range from 6 to 10 years. The saiga is recognizable by an extremely unusual, over-sized, flexible nose structure, the [[proboscis]]. During summer migrations the saigas' nose helps filter out dust kicked up by the herd and heats up the animals blood. In the winter it heats up the frigid air before it is taken to the lungs.
+The saiga typically stands {{convert|0.6|–|0.8|m|abbr=on}} at the shoulder and weighs between {{convert|36|and|63|kg|lb|abbr=on}}. The horned males are larger than the hornless females. Their lifespans range from 6 to 10 years. The saiga is recognizable by an extremely unusual, over-sized, flexible nose structure, the [[proboscis]]. During summer migrations the saigas' nose helps filter out dust kicked up by the [[herd]] and heats up the animals blood. In the winter it heats up the frigid air before it is taken to the lungs.
 [[File:Saiga Antelope Skull and Taxidermy.jpg|thumb|left|Saiga antelope skull and taxidermy mount on display at the [[Museum of Osteology]].]]