Table of Contents
Overview
Brief Summary
Biology
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Comprehensive Description
Description
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Distribution
Range Description
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Geographic Range
Saiga tatarica populations are concentrated in three main areas within central Asia: Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Kalmykia. (Milner-Gulland 1994)
Biogeographic Regions: palearctic (Native )
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Range
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Physical Description
Morphology
Physical Description
The most striking feature of a saiga is its large head with a huge mobile nose that hangs over its mouth. Males have a pair of long, waxy colored horns with ring-like ridges along their length. Except for the unusual snout and horns, S. tatarica look similar to small sheep. Saiga antelopes are approximately .6 m to .8 m tall at shoulder height and are approximately 1 m to 1.5 m long. They have long, thin legs and a slightly robust body. During the summer, S. tatarica have a short coat that is yellowish red on the back and neck with a paler underside. In the winter, the coat becomes thicker and longer. The winter pelage is dull gray on the back and neck and a very light, brown-gray shade on the belly. Saiga antelopes also have a short tail.
(Heptner, et. al. 1988; Sokolov 1974)
Range mass: 30 to 45 kg.
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Ecology
Habitat
Habitat and Ecology
The Saiga is a migratory species with widely separated summer (northern) and winter (southern) ranges. The species lives in large herds, usually up to thousand individuals. It has a high rate of reproduction and recruitment. In years with a favourable climate the population can increase by up to 60% in a single year (Chan et al. 1995). Very few animals in a population are more than 3.5 years old, indicating that the population is almost completely renewed after four years (Bekenov et al. 1998).
Systems
- Terrestrial
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Habitat
Saiga tatarica inhabit dry steppes and semi deserts. Herds are found in grassy plains void of rugged terrain and hills. (Heptner, et. al. 1988)
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland
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Habitat
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Trophic Strategy
Food Habits
Saiga antelopes are herbivores. They graze on over one hundred different plant species; the most important being grasses, prostrate summer cypress, saltworts, fobs, sagebrush, and steppe lichens. (Heptner, et. al. 1988)
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Life History and Behavior
Life Expectancy
Lifespan/Longevity
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 12.0 years.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 10.0 years.
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Lifespan, longevity, and ageing
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Reproduction
Reproduction
Female saigas reach sexual maturity at 7 to 8 months while the males which reach sexual maturity at 2 years. The breeding period lasts from late November to late December. A female is pregnant for 5 months and usually gives birth to two young. Young begin to graze at 4-8 days old. Lactation lasts for about four months. In captivity, young saigas occasionally nurse from unrelated adults; however, this has never been observed in the wild. (Rubin, et. al 1994; Sokolov 1974)
Range number of offspring: 1 to 3.
Average number of offspring: 1.3.
Range gestation period: 4.63 to 5.07 months.
Range weaning age: 2.5 to 4 months.
Average birth mass: 3500 g.
Average number of offspring: 1.7.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
Sex: male: 669 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
Sex: female: 331 days.
Parental Investment: extended period of juvenile learning
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Conservation
Conservation Status
IUCN Red List Assessment
Red List Category
Red List Criteria
Version
Year Assessed
Assessor/s
Reviewer/s
Contributor/s
Justification
History
- 2003Critically Endangered(IUCN 2003)
- 2002Critically Endangered
- 2000Lower Risk/conservation dependent
- 1996Vulnerable(Baillie and Groombridge 1996)
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Conservation Status
Up until 1990, Saiga tatarica were successfully managed by the Soviet Union. However, the break-up of the Soviet state led to the end of the intense management of the saiga antelope. Currently, the population is rapidly declining due to severe poaching. (Milner-Gullan 1994)
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: appendix ii
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: critically endangered
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Status
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Trends
Population
In European Russia (Kalmykia), the Saiga population steeply declined after land reclamation of the Volga basin started, but the species remained numerous within the distribution area. In the 1970s the population recovered to ca.700,000–800,000 as a result of hunting regulation. However, since then the population has drastically declined. In 1980 there were an estimated 380,000 individuals, in 1996 there were 196,000, and by 2000 just 26,000 (see Milner-Gulland et al. 2001 for annual survey results for 1980–2000). At present there are no more than 18,000 animals in Kalmykia. Sex ratio is severely skewed; the proportion of males varies from 1 to 10% in different years.
The population of Mongolian Saiga increased from ca. 3,000 in 1998, to 5,200 in 2000 helped by favourable climatic conditions and active conservation measures by WWF–Mongolia. Numbers fell between 2000 and 2002 as a result of severe winters and summer drought. They continued to decline in 2002–2003, mainly because of poaching. Numbers were ca. 1,020 in 2003, and 750 in January 2004 (J. Chimeg, in litt.).
In total, the global population of Saiga is now estimated at ca.50,000, down from 1,250,000 in the mid-1970s, with most animals found in Kazakhstan.
Population Trend
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Threats
Threats
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Threats
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Management
Conservation Actions
The Mongolian Saiga has been legally protected since 1930. Two protected areas, Sharga NR (286,900 ha) and Mankhan NR (30,000 ha), were designated in 1993 to protect most of the remaining areas of occurrence.
Listed on CITES Appendix II.
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Conservation
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Relevance to Humans and Ecosystems
Benefits
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
Saiga tatarica occasionally trample agricultural plants and feed on crops. (Sokolov, 1974)
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Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
Saiga antelopes are valued for their fur, meat, and horns. Their horns are considered their most valuable feature. The horns are ground up and commonly used in Chinese medicine to reduce fevers. (But, et. al. 1990)
Positive Impacts: food ; body parts are source of valuable material
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Wikipedia
Saiga Antelope
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 Carpathians and Caucasus into Dzungaria and Mongolia. They also lived in North America during the Pleistocene. Today the nominate subspecies (Saiga tatarica tatarica) is only found in one location in Russia (steppes of the North-West 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. The Mongolian subspecies (Saiga tatarica mongolica) is found only in western Mongolia.[2]
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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, flexible nose structure.
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 to, in two thirds of all cases two, or in one third, one single foal.
Distribution
During the Ice Age the saiga ranged from the British Isles through Central Asia and the Bering Strait into Alaska and the Yukon. 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 Dzungaria and Mongolia.
After a rapid decline they were nearly completely exterminated in the 1920s, but they were able to recover and by 1950 there were again two million of them in the steppes of the USSR.
Its population fell drastically following the collapse of the Soviet Union, due to uncontrolled hunting and demand for its 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.[3]
Today the populations have again shrunk enormously, as much as 95% in 15 years,[4] 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. Another small population in the Pre-Caspian region of Russia, remains under extreme threat.[5]
Cherny Zemli Nature Reserve was created in Russia's Kalmykia Republic in 1990s to protect the local saiga population and the President of Russia's Kalmykia Republic, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, announced year of 2010 in Kalmykia as Year of Saiga. In Kazakhstan, the number of saiga was recently found to be increasing, from around 21,000 at the begin of this millennium to around 81,000 in January 2010.[6]
However, in May 2010, it was announced that 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.[7]
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.[8]
The Mongolian saiga (Saiga tatarica mongolica) is found in a small area in western Mongolia around Sharga and Mankhan Nature Reserve.[9]
Currently only the Moscow Zoo zoo keeps saigas[verification needed]. Cologne and San Diego Zoos had them in the past. Pleistocene Park in northern Siberia plans to introduce the species.
Conservation
The Saiga Conservation Alliance was started back in the early 1990s as an informal network of researchers and conservationists to study and protect the critically endangered saiga antelope. The SCA was officially inaugurated in September 2006, and in November 2006 was granted Candidate Partner status by the Wildlife Conservation Network. SCA also publishes a quarterly newsletter with latest updates from the field and range countries.[10]
The organization Rewilding Europe has plans for reintroducing saiga to Europe.[11]
Among followers of traditional Chinese medicine, saiga horns can be sold for as much as $150.[12]
References
- ^ Mallon, D.P. (2008). Saiga tatarica. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 13 November 2008.Database entry includes justification for why this species is listed as Critically Endangered.
- ^ Distribution http://www.edgeofexistence.org/mammals/species_info.php?id=62
- ^ Ellis, Richard (2004). No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species. New York: Harper Perennial. p. 210. ISBN 0-06-055804-0.
- ^ 15% Decline http://www.saiga-conservation.com/home.html
- ^ Pre-Caspian Population http://www.saiga-conservation.com/news_article/items/emergency-appeal-for-the-saigas-of-the-pre-caspian-region-of-rus.html
- ^ Number of saiga amounted to 81,000 in Kazakhstan http://engnews.gazeta.kz/art.asp?aid=141166
- ^ May 2010 Saiga Deaths http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10179345.stm
- ^ http://silkroadintelligencer.com/2011/01/19/kazakhstan-extends-saiga-antelope-hunting-ban-until-2021/
- ^ Mallon, D.P. and Kingswood, S.C. (compilers). (2001). Antelopes. Part 4: North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Global Survery and Regional Action Plans. SSC Antelope Specialist Group. IUCN, GLand, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. ISBN 2-8317-0594-0
- ^ SCA http://www.saiga-conservation.com/who.html
- ^ http://www.rewildingeurope.com/news/articles/big-efforts-needed-for-wildlife-recovery//
- ^ Wild Russia
Further reading
- Singh, N.J., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2011) (2011). "Conserving a moving target: planning protection for a migratory species as its distribution changes". Journal of Applied Ecology, 48: 35–46. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2664.2010.01905.x.
- Singh, N.J., Grachev, Iu.A., Bekenov, A.B., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2010) (2010). "Tracking greenery in Central Asia: The migration of the saiga antelope". Diversity and Distributions 16 (4): 663–675. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4642.2010.00671.x.
- Singh, N.J., Grachev, Iu.A., Bekenov, A.B., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2010) (2010). "Saiga antelope calving site selection is increasingly driven by human disturbance". Biological Conservation 143 (7): 1770–1779. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2010.04.026. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V5X-500Y5K9-4&_user=10&_coverDate=07/31/2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1659199873&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=7bc577bf2849afb4b272371a95ef990d&searchtype=a..
- Kuhl, A., Mysterud, A., Grachev, Iu.A., Bekenov, A.B., Ubushaev, B.S., Lushchekina, A.A., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2009) (2009). "Monitoring population productivity in the saiga antelope". Animal Conservation 12 (4): 355–363. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2009.00260.x.
- Kuhl, A., Balinova, N., Bykova, E., Esipov, A., Arylov, Iu.A., Lushchekina, A.A., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2009) (2009). "The role of saiga poaching in rural communities: Linkages between attitudes, socio-economic circumstances and behaviour". Biological Conservation 142 (7): 1442–1449. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.02.009. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V5X-4VVW4TV-2&_user=10&_coverDate=07/31/2009&_alid=1659205073&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=5798&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=28&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=8837a79198e8465b7f7ab4a5abc918b3&searchtype=a.
- Kuhl, A., Mysterud, A., Erdnenov, G.I., Lushchekina, A.A., Grachev, Iu. A., Bekenov, A.B., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2007) (2007). "The big spenders of the steppe: sex-specific maternal allocation and twinning in the saiga antelope". Proceedings of the Royal Society B 274 (1615): 1293–1299. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.0038. PMC 2176182. PMID 17341456. http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/274/1615/1293.full.pdf+html?sid=2715bfd3-0c4a-45fc-af0a-8ebbad58098b..
- Morgan, E.R., Medley, G.F., Torgerson, P.R., Shaikenov, B., and Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2007) (2007). "Parasite transmission in a migratory multiple host system". Ecological Modelling 200 (3–4): 511–520. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2006.09.002. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VBS-4M4TNYM-1&_user=10&_coverDate=01/24/2007&_alid=1659238094&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=5934&_sort=r&_st=13&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=1&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=74abd85dbfbfa9af0efc8069fcad7edc&searchtype=a.
- Kholodova, M.V., Milner-Gulland, E.J., Easton, A.J., Amgalan, L., Arylov, Iu., Bekenov, A., Grachev, Iu.A., Lushchekina, A.A., Ryder, O. (2006) (2006). "Mitochondrial DNA variation and population structure of the Critically Endangered saiga antelope Saiga tatarica". Oryx 40: 103–107. doi:10.1017/S0030605306000135. http://cambridgefluids.com/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=409242&fulltextType=SC&fileId=S0030605306000135.
- Morgan, E.R., Lundervold, M., Medley, G.F., Shaikenov, B.S., Torgerson, P.R., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2006) (2006). "Assessing risks of disease transmission between wildlife and livestock: the Saiga antelope as a case study". Biological Conservation 131 (2): 244–254. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2006.04.012. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V5X-4K427W7-1&_user=10&_coverDate=08/31/2006&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1659209802&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=ba5e9c23db5febbcf287c8b05d81fcac&searchtype=a.
- Morgan, E.R., Shaikenov, B., Torgerson, P.R., Medley, G.F., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2005) (2005). "Helminths of saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan: Implications for conservation and livestock production". Journal of Wildlife Diseases 41 (1): 149–162. PMID 15827221. http://www.jwildlifedis.org/cgi/content/full/41/1/149.
- Milner-Gulland, E.J., Bukreeva, O.M., Coulson, T.N., Lushchekina, A.A., Kholodova, M.V., Bekenov, A.B., Grachev, Iu.A. (2003) (2003). "Reproductive collapse in saiga antelope harems". Nature 422 (6928): 135. doi:10.1038/422135a. PMID 12634775. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v422/n6928/full/422135a.html.
- Robinson, S., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2003) (2003). "Political change and factors limiting numbers of wild and domestic ungulates in Kazakhstan". Human Ecology 31: 87–110. doi:10.1023/A:1022834224257. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/huec/2003/00000031/00000001/00460732.
- Milner-Gulland, E.J., Kholodova, M.V., Bekenov, A.B., Bukreeva, O.M., Grachev, Iu.A., Amgalan, L., Lushchekina, A.A. (2001) (2001). "Dramatic declines in saiga antelope populations". Oryx 35 (4): 340–345. doi:10.1046/j.1365-3008.2001.00202.x.
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