Saiga antelope: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Saba 970 (talk | contribs)
79 edits
No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 60: Line 60:
== References ==
== References ==
{{reflist|2}}
{{reflist|2}}

== Further Reading ==
*{{cite journal |author=Singh, N.J., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2011) |title=Conserving a moving target: planning protection for a migratory species as its distribution changes |journal= Journal of Applied Ecology, |volume=48 |pages= 35-46 |url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2010.01905.x/abstract}}

*{{cite journal |author=Singh, N.J., Grachev, Iu.A., Bekenov, A.B., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2010) |title=Tracking greenery in Central Asia: The migration of the saiga antelope |journal=Diversity and Distributions |volume=16 |pages=663-675 |url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2010.00671.x/abstract}}

*{{cite journal |author=Singh, N.J., Grachev, Iu.A., Bekenov, A.B., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2010) |title=Saiga antelope calving site selection is increasingly driven by human disturbance |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=143 |pages=1770-1779 |url=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.}}

*{{cite journal |author=Kuhl, A., Mysterud, A., Grachev, Iu.A., Bekenov, A.B., Ubushaev, B.S., Lushchekina, A.A., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2009) |title=Monitoring population productivity in the saiga antelope |journal=Animal Conservation |volume=12 |pages=355-363 |url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2009.00260.x/abstract}}

*{{cite journal |author=Kuhl, A., Balinova, N., Bykova, E., Esipov, A., Arylov, Iu.A., Lushchekina, A.A., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2009) |title=The role of saiga poaching in rural communities: Linkages between attitudes, socio-economic circumstances and behaviour |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=142 |pages=1442-1449 |url=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}}

*{{cite journal |author=Kuhl, A., Mysterud, A., Erdnenov, G.I., Lushchekina, A.A., Grachev, Iu. A., Bekenov, A.B., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2007) |title=The big spenders of the steppe: sex-specific maternal allocation and twinning in the saiga antelope |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B |volume=274 |pages=1293-1299 |url=http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/274/1615/1293.full.pdf+html?sid=2715bfd3-0c4a-45fc-af0a-8ebbad58098b}}.

*{{cite journal |author=Morgan, E.R., Medley, G.F., Torgerson, P.R., Shaikenov, B., and Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2007) |title=Parasite transmission in a declining migratory saiga antelope population in Kazakhstan |journal=Ecological Modelling |volume=200 |pages=511-520}}

*{{cite journal |author=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) |title=Population genetics of the critically endangered saiga antelope |journal=Oryx |volume=40 |pages=103-107}}

*{{cite journal |author=Morgan, E.R., Lundervold, M., Medley, G.F., Shaikenov, B.S., Torgerson, P.R., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2006) |title=Assessing risks of disease transmission between wildlife and livestock: the Saiga antelope as a case study |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=131 |pages=244-254 |url= 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}}

*{{cite journal |author=Morgan, E.R., Shaikenov, B., Torgerson, P.R., Medley, G.F., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2005) |title=Helminths of saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan: Implications for conservation and livestock production |journal=Journal of Wildlife Diseases |volume=41 |pages=149-162}}

*{{cite journal |author=Milner-Gulland, E.J., Bukreeva, O.M., Coulson, T.N., Lushchekina, A.A., Kholodova, M.V., Bekenov, A.B., Grachev, Iu.A. (2003) |title=Reproductive collapse in saiga antelope harems. |journal=Nature |volume=422 |pages=135 |url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v422/n6928/full/422135a.html}}

*{{cite journal |author=Robinson, S., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2003) |title=Political change and factors limiting numbers of wild and domestic ungulates in Kazakhstan. |journal=Human Ecology |volume=31 |pages=87-110 |url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/huec/2003/00000031/00000001/00460732}}

*{{cite journal |author=Milner-Gulland, E.J., Kholodova, M.V., Bekenov, A.B., Bukreeva, O.M., Grachev, Iu.A., Amgalan, L., Lushchekina, A.A. (2001) |title=Dramatic declines in saiga antelope populations |journal=Oryx |volume=35 |pages=340-345 |url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-3008.2001.00202.x/abstract}}


==External links==
==External links==

Revision as of 21:53, 28 February 2011

"Saiga" redirects here. For the shotguns and rifles named after the antelope, see Saiga-12.

Saiga
File:Mongolia Saiga tatarica.jpg
Male Saiga (Saiga tatarica)
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)

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. They also lived in North America during the Pleistocene. Today they are found only in a few areas in Kalmykia (Russia), Kazakhstan, and western Mongolia.

The populations of Mongolia represent a distinct subspecies, the Mongolian Saiga (Saiga tatarica mongolica), with 750 individuals. All other populations, belong to the nominal subspecies Saiga tatarica tatarica.

The antelopes migrate between Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Turkmenistan and China.

Physical characteristics

A close-up of the saiga's distinctive face.

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. The nose is supposed to warm up the air in winter and filter 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 to, in two thirds of all cases two, or in one third, one single foal.

Distribution

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

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.

Reconstructed range (white) and current distribution of the two subspecies Saiga tatarica tatarica (green) and Saiga tatarica mongolica (red)

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.[2]

Today the populations have again shrunk enormously, as much as 95% in 15 years[3], 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.[4]

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.[5]

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.[6]

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.[7]

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. [8]


References

  1. ^ Template:IUCN2008Database entry includes justification for why this species is listed as Critically Endangered.
  2. ^ Ellis, Richard (2004). No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species. New York: Harper Perennial. p. 210. ISBN 0-06-055804-0.
  3. ^ 15% Decline http://www.saiga-conservation.com/home.html
  4. ^ Pre-Caspian Population http://www.saiga-conservation.com/news_article/items/emergency-appeal-for-the-saigas-of-the-pre-caspian-region-of-rus.html
  5. ^ Number of saiga amounted to 81,000 in Kazakhstan http://engnews.gazeta.kz/art.asp?aid=141166
  6. ^ May 2010 Saiga Deaths http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10179345.stm
  7. ^ http://silkroadintelligencer.com/2011/01/19/kazakhstan-extends-saiga-antelope-hunting-ban-until-2021/
  8. ^ SCA http://www.saiga-conservation.com/who.html

Further Reading

  • Morgan, E.R., Medley, G.F., Torgerson, P.R., Shaikenov, B., and Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2007). "Parasite transmission in a declining migratory saiga antelope population in Kazakhstan". Ecological Modelling. 200: 511–520.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  • 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). "Population genetics of the critically endangered saiga antelope". Oryx. 40: 103–107.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  • Morgan, E.R., Shaikenov, B., Torgerson, P.R., Medley, G.F., Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2005). "Helminths of saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan: Implications for conservation and livestock production". Journal of Wildlife Diseases. 41: 149–162.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saiga Antelope.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saiga_antelope&oldid=416446135"