[ December Free Report] Saigaby Sara Dauletyarova | 02-01-2022 18:57 |
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  Have you heard about the world¡¯s weirdest antelope with a big nose? If not, this kind of animal is called the Saiga antelope or Saiga tatrica. Saiga is adapted to harsh conditions inhabiting generally semi-desert grasslands or open woodlands. These antelopes are classed as an endangered species and can only be found in Central Asia, Mongolia, and the Russian Federation. The most striking feature about them is their appearance with a distinctive bulbous nose which differs from other antelopes. The nose serves to warm up the cold winter air before it reaches their lungs, and it may also work as a dust filter in the dry summers. This species can migrate over 1,000 km with very large herds of 1000 individuals between summer and winter, and the migration pattern follows a north-south direction. The mating season of saigas takes place from December to January. The population of saigas has declined because of some reasons. Saigas have been so widely hunted due to their meat, skin, and horns, which have commercial value. Saiga horn, which is equal to rhino¡¯s horn, is greatly appreciated in Chinese medicine. There has been a dramatic decrease in the number of this rare animal from millions in the 1990s to fewer than 130, 0000 in 2016. Over 87 thousand tonnes of meat were collected in Kazakhstan from 1955-1989 leading to more than five million saiga deaths. In 2011, Kazakhstan imposed a ban on the hunting saiga, which extended until 2021. Saigas are regarded as a symbol of the Central Asian nomadic lifestyle, and today approximately 124,000 saigas remain in the wild.  There is an estimated resident population of 500 saiga antelopes in Uzbekistan on the island of Vozrozhdeniye because of the catastrophic Aral Sea. Having banned the hunting of saiga since 1991, Uzbekistan launched the one-million-hectare Saigachy Reserve to protect Saiga breeding grounds. In 2008, the saiga was listed in the Red Book of Uzbekistan. A lot of efforts have been done to better conserve the species. For example, Asian governments along with NGOs such as Saiga Conservation Alliance (SCA) signed the Convention on Migratory Species¡¯ Memorandum of Understanding to preserve saiga. Since 2000, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has provided financial and technical support for saiga conservation. We are humans who can destroy but at the same time change the world by making a difference. And the survival of animals is in our hands, too. So why not help them grow instead of neglecting the existence of those creatures. |
