They look like something drawn by Dr Seuss , but saiga antelope are a real thing . alas , we ca n’t be sure if they will be a thing for much longer , because at the current rate they could be extinct within a few weeks , at least in the wilderness .
Saiga antelope are not especially uncommon for a large mammal , with well over 100,000 surviving . However , they have been class as endanger since run slashed their issue by at least three quarters in the nineties , after the breakup of the Soviet Union counteract poaching controls . In the retiring few weeks an estimated 85,000 have died , and that design , liberate on Friday , may already be out of particular date . Worse still , no one knows why .
In 2014 , a study by the government of Kazakstahn account just over a quarter of a million saiga in the rural area . A small number live in Russia and Mongolia , which so far have not been reported to have been touch in the same way .
view like this could become a affair of the past times . Credit : Dmytro Pylypenko via Shutterstock
A fortnight ago , paper seem of dead saiga being found . Since then , the number of deaths has risen terrifyingly quickly , from hundreds , tothousands , to nowtens of thousand . Less Dr Seuss and more repugnance movie .
A bacterial infection calledpasteurellosisis considered to be the most likely cause , but expert in animal disease are fly in to enquire further . The Kazak ministry of agriculture says that large dice - offs have happened before , but the personnel casualty of a third of a population in such a short meter is almost unprecedented , not just for saiga , but for any long - lived metal money . It is unreadable why a disease that was already widespread among saigas , and normally only killed those weakened by lack of nutrient or other disease , should turn over deadly so chop-chop .
“ It ’s shaping up to be a complete catastrophe , ” EJ Milner - Gulland , headland of theSaiga Conservation Alliancetoldthe Guardian . She added , “ I ’m afraid the animals are still die and we are not really getting a final identification number yet . I ’m await that routine to go up quite well in the coming twenty-four hour period . ”
The saiga have take a hop from universe wreck before , having dropped as low as 21,000 after poach peaked in 2003 . universe crashes abbreviate genetic variety , potentially get mintage more vulnerable to new disease or mutated versions of old ones . On the other hand , the Saiga tatarica ’s hall in regions prostrate to bitter wintertime and severe droughts has created a capacity to cover quickly when well times come along .
