Saiga (Saiga tatarica)
Saigas are weird looking antelopes, equipped with a large, proboscis-like nose that is key to their survival in the seasonal extremes of their range. Large air sacs in the nose extract valuable moisture from exhaled air and also warm up the cold air as it is breathed in.
What do they sound like?
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Migration from the cold
Realms of the Russian Bear
When the winter sets in, it is time to move further south.
Saiga antelope
Realms of the Russian Bear
Saiga antelope are perfectly adapted for the Russian Steppe.
Earth News
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Love rivals heading for extinction
A once-plentiful species of antelope could be wiped out after wholesale poaching triggered a dramatic change in mating behaviour.
About the Saiga
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. Today they are found only in a few areas in Kalmykia (Russia), Kazakhstan, and western Mongolia.
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Scientific Classification
Order: Even-toed ungulate (Artiodactyla)
Genus: Saiga
Species: Saiga Antelope (tatarica)
The Saiga is
Adaptation data provided by Animal Diversity Web
Where can I see them?
They can be found in the following habitats:
Conservation Status
The Saiga is Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
- EX - Extinct
- EW
- CR - Threatened
- EN - Threatened
- VU - Threatened
- NT
- LC - Least concern
Population trend: Decreasing
Year assessed: 2008
What's the threat?
Saiga have long been hunted for their horns, skin and meat. However, during Soviet times the species was subject to an intensive management programme, and populations remained relatively stable. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, legal controls ended and illegal poaching intensified. Males in particular were targeted for their horns, which were seen as an alternative to rhino horn in traditional oriental medicine. The heavy hunting on male saigas has led to severely skewed sex ratios, and problems of reproductive failure through females being unable to breed because they cannot find a mate. This excaberated the severe population crash caused by poaching, and immediate conservation action is required to ensure wild populations do not become extinct within a few years. Although poaching is the main cause of the species’ decline, it is also at risk in some areas from habitat loss and degradation caused by human encroachment into its habitat, and from the construction of roads and pipelines.
Information about the threat is provided by the Zoological Society of London's EDGE of Existence programme
Elsewhere on the web
- Saiga antelope - Saiga tatarica (arkive.org)
- Saiga tatarica (animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu)
- IUCN Red List information (iucnredlist.org)
- Mongolia Web: Mongolia’s saiga antelope called most threatened (mongolia-web.com)
- Ultimate Ungulate fact file (ultimateungulate.com)
- Saiga Antelope (wikipedia.org)
- Saiga (Saiga tatarica) (edgeofexistence.org)
Site links
BBC links
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