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The 'Saiga' (''Saiga tatarica'') is an antelope which originally inhabited a vast area of the eurasian steppe zone from the foothils of the Carpathians and Caucasus into Dzungaria and Mongolia. Today they are found only in a few areas in Kalmykia (Russia), Kazakhstan, and western Mongolia.

Contents

Physical characteristics

Habitat and Behavior

Distribution

References

External links

Physical characteristics

The Saiga typically stands 0.6-0.8 meters at the shoulder and weighs between 36 and 63 kg. Their lifespan ranges from 6 to 10 years. Males are bigger than females and are the only sex to carry horns. The horns have some value as Chinese traditional medicine and for that reason Saiga are now endangered by poaching. The Saiga is recognizable by an extremely unusual, over-sized, and flexible, nose structure. The nose is supposed to warm up the air in winter and filters out the dust in summer.

Habitat and Behavior

Saigas form very large herds that graze in semi-desert steppes 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 5-50 females. In springtime the mother gives birth, in two third of all cases two, or in one third one single foal.

Distribution

During the Ice Age the Saiga occurred form the British Islands through central Asia and the Bering Strait into Alaska. At the beginning of the 18th century it was still distributed from the shores of the Black Sea, the Carpathian foothills and the northern edge of the Caucasus into Dzhungaria and Mongolia.
After a rapid decline they were nearly completely extirpated in the 1920's, but they could recover and in the 1950 there where again two million of them in the steppes of the USSR. Today the populations shrunk again enormously and the Saiga is classified as critically endangered by the IUCN. There is an estimated total number of 50.000 Saigas today, which live in Kalmykia, three areas of Kazakhstan and in two isolated areas of Mongolia. Cherny Zemli Nature Reserve was created in Russia's Kalmykia Republic in 1990s to protect the local saiga population. The populations of Mongolia represent a distinct subspecies, the Mongolian Saiga (''Saiga tatarica mongolica''). All other populations, belong to the nominal subspecies ''Saiga tatarica tatarica''.
Currently only Moscow and Cologne zoo keep saigas. San Diego has had them in the past.

References

★ Ultimate Ungulate

External links

★ CMS Saiga Memorandum of Understanding

★ ARKive - images and movies of the Saiga antelope ''(Saiga tatarica)''

★ Information Support of Saiga Preservation Programs

★ CIC - International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation

★ Saiga Conservation Alliance