Saiga Antelope
Saiga tatarica
Conservation Status
VulnerableMammalia · Artiodactyla · Bovidae
About
The saiga antelope or saiga is a species of antelope which during antiquity inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe, spanning the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in the northwest and Caucasus in the southwest into Mongolia in the northeast and Dzungaria in the southeast. During the Pleistocene, it ranged across the mammoth steppe from the British Isles to Beringia. Today, the dominant subspecies only occurs in Kalmykia and Astrakhan Oblast of Russia and in the Ural Mountains, Ustyurt Plateau and Betpak-Dala regions of Kazakhstan. A portion of the Ustyurt population migrates south to Uzbekistan and occasionally to Turkmenistan in winter. It is regionally extinct in Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, China and southwestern Mongolia. The Mongolian subspecies occurs only in western Mongolia.
Fun Fact
Saiga antelope have bizarre, bulbous noses that filter dust in summer and warm freezing air in winter — their populations can swing wildly, crashing by 95% in a single year from disease.
Quick Facts
Habitat
Grasslands and steppes
Diet
Herbivore
Lifespan
6-10 years
Threats
- Small Population Size
- Illegal Wildlife Trade
- Urban Expansion
- Genetic Bottleneck