{"id":20036757,"date":"2020-08-17T12:30:06","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T07:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=36757"},"modified":"2021-04-30T19:16:28","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T13:46:28","slug":"saving-central-asias-ice-age-antelope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/saving-central-asias-ice-age-antelope\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving Central Asia\u2019s Ice Age antelope"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Saiga antelope once migrated alongside woolly rhinos and mammoths across <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fws.gov\/international\/animals\/saiga-antelope.html\">vast territories<\/a>&nbsp;from the British Isles to Alaska. Between 45,000 and 10,000 years ago they were <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2017-03-saiga-antelopes-flexible-thought.html#jCp\">widespread<\/a>&nbsp;in the northern hemisphere. Now the species\u2019 range is mainly confined to the grasslands and deserts of Kazakhstan, and parts of Uzbekistan, Russia and Mongolia.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-36760 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/20200804_Saiga_antelope_rangev4-01.png\" alt=\"Habitat range of the saiga antelope\" width=\"2347\" height=\"1395\"><\/p>\n<p>Known for its trunk-like nose, the saiga antelope is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iucnredlist.org\/species\/19832\/50194357#text-fields\">classified<\/a> as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Most people, however, only heard of the saiga in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2015\/may\/21\/kazakhstan-mass-antelope-death-mystery\">May 2015<\/a>, when more than 200,000 antelopes suddenly and mysteriously died in three weeks in Betpak-Dala, a region in central Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n<p>By 2018, the number of adult saiga was around 125,000 as of 2018, down from over 1 million in the 1990s.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Interactive or visual content\" src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/3468579\/embed#?secret=nHVAo1Ewws\" data-secret=\"nHVAo1Ewws\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" height=\"575\" width=\"640\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Signs of recovery<\/h2>\n<p>Conservationists <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saigaresourcecentre.com\/sites\/default\/files\/2020-02\/sn_25_news_saiga-en-web_0.pdf#page=8\">report<\/a> that the saiga populations in Kazakhstan and Russia doubled in 2019 to an estimated 300,000 individuals. This is predicted to reach 500,000 in the next two years.<\/p>\n<p>Munib Khanyari, a researcher at the University of Oxford\u2019s Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation, told <a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/\">The Third Pole<\/a> that the saiga\u2019s recent recovery \u201cis largely due to the amazing effort of NGOs such as Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan, government authorities like Okhotzooprom [the agency that protects Kazakhstan&#8217;s wildlife], and park rangers, who build awareness, conduct patrols and limit poaching activities. This is not to say poaching doesn\u2019t exist \u2013 it does and is always being considered in conservation plans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conservationists are also cautiously optimistic after reports in June of a <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2020-06-mass-saiga-calving-critically-endangered.html\">mass calving<\/a> in the Ustiurt Plateau population in Mangystau, a region of Kazakhstan. The birth of 530 calves doubled the population in that area in 2018.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_36761\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36761\" style=\"width: 580px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-36761 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/10_standard-andre-gillev-karina-karenina-2.jpg\" alt=\"Saiga antelope on the stepmom reserve in Russia\" width=\"580\" height=\"435\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36761\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saiga antelope sparring on the Stepnoi Reserve in Russia [Image courtesy: Andrey Gilev and Karina Karenina]<\/figcaption><\/figure>Researchers say saiga are resilient and, if given the chance, their population growth can be high.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is indeed a positive sign to discover a mass calving in the Mangystau region,&#8221;said Khanyari. &#8220;This population was known to migrate south to regions in Uzbekistan in the winter, but was affected by infrastructure projects like the railway and fences built around the Kazakh-Uzbek border. It will be important to monitor this population to see how it reacts to these infrastructure challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Poaching has not been eliminated<\/h2>\n<p>Poaching for the antelope\u2019s horns and meat, which accelerated in the 1990s, continues to threaten it. The horn is <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0222038\">used<\/a> in a wide variety of traditional Chinese medicines, as it is believed to treat fever and sore throat.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_36764\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36764\" style=\"width: 468px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-36764 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Source_-_The_New_Paper_2019.jpg\" alt=\"Saiga horn for sale\" width=\"468\" height=\"312\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36764\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saiga horn for sale [image: Andrey Gilev and Karina Karenina, 2019]<\/figcaption><\/figure>Along with China, Singapore is one of the major saiga horn trading hubs in Asia, where saiga horn products and its derivatives are legally authorised for trade and consumption. One in five Chinese Singaporeans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tnp.sg\/news\/singapore\/lack-awareness-over-antelope-horn-product-endangered-animal\">use<\/a> medicinal products derived from saiga horn \u2013 also known as \u201cling yang\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Medicinal demand is not the only threat. In September 2019, researchers <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0222038\">concluded<\/a> that the \u201crapid increase in poaching was in fact a direct result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent loss of law enforcement and management capacity in the saiga\u2019s range states, as well as rampant rural poverty\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_36766\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36766\" style=\"width: 720px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-36766 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/poached_saiga_january_2009_1.jpg\" alt=\"man stands next to poached saiga meat in 2009\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36766\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Poached saiga meat in 2009 [image courtesy: Saiga Resource Centre]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cI think poaching is not nearly at the levels reached after the collapse of the Soviet Union,\u201d said Khanyari. \u201cRight after the break-up of the Soviet Union people almost overnight lost institutional support to rear livestock, and started to kill saiga for meat and also males for their horns. Selectively harvesting males (as female don&#8217;t have horns) led to population crashes, as saiga are a harem breeding species (one male mates with several females).\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>See:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/2019\/05\/06\/global-biodiversity-is-collapsing-warn-scientists\/\">Global biodiversity is collapsing, warn scientists<\/a><\/p>\n<p>According to Orazbay Abdirakhmanov, who has written a number of books on the environmental challenges in the Aral Sea region, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=688&amp;v=BaYQeKf_MsY&amp;feature=emb_title\">multiple factors<\/a> caused the population to drop. These include uncontrolled poaching, physical borders negatively affecting migratory species and loss of habitat to industrial projects, such as oil and gas pipelines and railroads after 1990.<\/p>\n<p><strong>See:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/2020\/05\/25\/poaching-spikes-amid-lockdown-in-south-asia\/\">Poaching spikes amid lockdown in South Asia<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Impact of climate change<\/h2>\n<p>Scientists have <a href=\"https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/4\/1\/eaao2314\">identified<\/a> another worrying cause of the species\u2019 decline: climate-related and environmental stressors, which may exacerbate existing challenges. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saigaresourcecentre.com\/sites\/default\/files\/migrated\/media\/368683\/09-13_nh_field_notes_final.pdf\">Research<\/a> from British conservationists Richard Kock and Eleanor Milner-Gulland has linked mass-mortality events with high levels of humidity, \u201cwith most die-offs occurring at a mean average maximum daily relative humidity of more than 80%,\u201d they wrote in a recent paper. \u201cIn May 2015, atmospheric moisture was extreme with some of the highest recorded values for that time of year since 1948.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Khanyari said, \u201cMass die-off is going to be a concern over the coming years. It is key our conservation efforts ensure that saiga populations grow big enough to deal with these catastrophic but often natural events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is evidence that the 2015 mass die-off, like a few of the past die-offs, was related to Pasteurellosis, an infection caused by the bacteria <em>pasteurella multocida<\/em> and driven by climate anomalies. This bacteria usually lives in the oesophagus of antelope, but because of the temperature\/humidity anomaly during the calving time (when females are already physiologically stressed), this bacteria turned virulent and caused haemorrhagic septicaemia. While that is the proximate cause, the <a href=\"https:\/\/advances.sciencemag.org\/content\/4\/1\/eaao2314\">ultimate cause<\/a> remains unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Potential human conflict<\/h2>\n<p>While the recent growth of the saiga population is good news for biodiversity, farmers might see this differently. Local news sources reported farmers in north-west Kazakhstan suffering losses after herds of the Ural saiga population migrated through their crop fields.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_36767\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36767\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-36767\" src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/saiga_herd_Munib_Khanyari-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"saiga herd\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36767\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saiga herd [image by: Munib Khanyari]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cThe government agencies and NGOs, from my knowledge are still gathering baseline data\/evidence of this occurrence to then provide evidence-based interventions (if necessary),\u201d said Khanyari. \u201cI think it will be key for various stakeholders to work together towards a land-sharing rather than land-sparing way to conserve saigas. Historically, huge numbers of saiga shared the steppe with huge numbers of livestock, so it can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added, \u201cOvergrazing might be a concern as saiga numbers increase, but it is important to contextualise this within the bigger picture. Climate change is impacting these lands in various ways and also livestock numbers are rebounding after the dip following the Soviet break-up.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Protecting Central Asia\u2019s \u2018natural heritage\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The government of Kazakhstan has stepped up its efforts to eradicate poaching by criminal organisations \u2013 which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rferl.org\/a\/poachers-of-rare-saiga-antelope-kill-another-kazakh-wildlife-ranger\/30072867.html\">claimed<\/a> the lives of two park rangers in 2019. Last year, the country\u2019s National Security Committee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kt.kz\/rus\/ecology\/zaderzhano_18_chlenov_opg_zanimavsheysya_otstrelom_saygi_dlya_1377890560.html\">conducted<\/a> a nationwide operation, seizing over a tonne of saiga horns destined for China, with an estimated value of more than USD 14 million.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_36879\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36879\" style=\"width: 468px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-36879 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/saiga_horns_poaching.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"468\" height=\"302\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36879\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">[Image courtesy: Kazakhstan Today, 2019]<\/figcaption><\/figure>The country\u2019s president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saigaresourcecentre.com\/sites\/default\/files\/2020-02\/sn_25_news_saiga-en-web_0.pdf#page=8\">said<\/a>, \u201cPoachers keep on hunting saigas, our natural heritage. They must be severely punished in accordance with law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conservationists and scientists <a href=\"https:\/\/www.saigaresourcecentre.com\/sites\/default\/files\/migrated\/media\/368683\/09-13_nh_field_notes_final.pdf\">say<\/a> a multi-disciplinary approach is necessary, together with inter-state protection of the endangered species from illegal poaching. There must also be routine monitoring and research, so that countries in the region are better prepared for the disease outbreaks.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_36758\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36758\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-36758 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/researchers_saiga_calf_Munib_Khanyari.jpg\" alt=\"saiga calf\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36758\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Researchers weigh a saiga calf [image by Munib Khanyari]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\u201cSaiga are critical for the ecosystem of the region. As the primary consumer, they impact processes such as vegetation composition and nutrient cycling. Without the saiga the steppe ecosystem will likely be negatively affected, which has the potential to affect local water supplies and the climate. Saiga are also food for predators like wolves and even steppe eagles, so play a critical role in the food chain,\u201d said Munib Khanyari.<\/p>\n<p><strong>See:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/2020\/07\/31\/in-kyrgyzstan-community-based-tourism-shows-a-way-forward\/\">In Kyrgyzstan, community based tourism shows a way forward<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeyond this,\u201d he added, \u201cSaiga are extremely important culturally and historically. Saiga have been roaming the Earth since the time of species like mammoths. They are like living fossils.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Ryskeldi Satke is the Central Asia Regional Editor of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/\">The Third Pole<\/a>. He tweets @RyskeldiSatke<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> The saiga antelope has been around since the Ice Age, but poaching, habitat loss and mass die-offs had been catastrophic until conservation across Central Asia started working<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3724,"featured_media":20036762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[764],"tags":[511,519,523,539],"hashtags":[],"country":[20028672,50040712,50040737,20027811],"class_list":["post-20036757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature","tag-biodiversity","tag-climate-impacts","tag-conservation","tag-endangered-species","country-kazakhstan","country-mongolia","country-russia","country-uzbekistan"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - 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