#saigas

All About Animals, 1979.

S N O O T

“One possible explanation might be that climate change is driving these events,” said Richard Kock, a professor at the Royal Veterinary College in London and an author of the paper. There have been a series of such die-offs in recent years, he noted, but the team found no evidence for these events before the 1980s.

Saiga Antelopes Are Struck Again by a Plague in Central Asia By @ERICA GOODE Author #Science #Endangered and Extinct Species, Saigas #BREAKING #TRENDING #UK #USA #news An ancient species that once roamed grasslands with woolly mammoths is dying in great numbers in Mongolia, with harmful factors piling up. from NYT The New York Times

Perhaps because the saiga gathers into such large groups to migrate and give birth, they are extremely vulnerable to disease.   Between 1980 and 2014 there have been multiple mass die-offs of saiga herds due to disease, showing a contrast to their high reproductive rate.  In the summer of 2015, another mass die-off occurred, this one taking the lives of over 120,000 saiga, or nearly half the world population.  The cause of this devastating occurrence has still not been determined

The saiga was described by the historian Strabo as a common animal of Scythia in the last century BC.  He called the saiga the “Kolos”, and described it as "between the deer and ram in size".  He also believed, incorrectly, that the saiga drank through its nose.

There are two subspecies of saiga; the Russian saiga (above), living primarily in Kazakhstan, is larger and has longer horns than the Mongolian saiga (below).  The Mongolian saiga is also distinct in that it does not migrate, and it is also far rarer; there are perhaps only 1500 Mongolian saiga left in the world, compared to 30 000 Russian.