Saiga antelope
News and blog
Latest news
- Press release: “Conservation triumph”, Saiga antelope reclassified from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ - This positive status change reflects the species’ remarkable recovery in Kazakhstan due to ongoing conservation efforts, but action is still needed to ensure populations continue to improve, especially in Uzbekistan where only 500 individuals remain Today [11th December 2023], the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ status of saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) has improved from… Read more
More notes from the field
- Press release: “Conservation triumph”, Saiga antelope reclassified from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ - This positive status change reflects the species’ remarkable recovery in Kazakhstan due to ongoing conservation efforts, but action is still needed to ensure populations continue to improve, especially in Uzbekistan where only 500 individuals remain Today [11th December 2023], the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ status of saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) has improved from… Read more
- Journeying to the heart of the silk road in search of the world’s most unique antelope - Below us, as the aeroplane started its descent, the lights of Tashkent stretched as far as the horizon. The capital of Uzbekistan is home to over two and half million people, making it the largest city in Central Asia. I was arriving there, close to midnight, on a visit to meet our Conservation Partner Elena… Read more
- Monitoring the mammals of Resurrection Island: saiga antelope in Uzbekistan - The Aral Sea in Central Asia is synonymous with ecological and socio-economic collapse. At the centre of this region lies, what until the sea largely vanished, used to be an island: Vozrozhdenie (meaning ‘Resurrection’). This remote island has been home to critically endangered saiga antelope for at least 400 years. Until recently, the unique biodiversity… Read more
- Saiga antelope update - Sudden death of hundreds of thousands of saiga antelope The sudden death of over 200,000 saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan in May 2015, more than 80% of the affected population and more than 60% of the global population of this species, baffled the world. In just three weeks, entire herds of tens of thousands of healthy… Read more
- Saigas can survive! by E.J. Milner-Gulland - Professor E.J. Milner-Gulland at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science responds to articles suggesting that saigas are headed for extinction. A recent article in the New York Times suggested that the recent massive die-off of saigas in Kazakhstan is "not going to be something the species can survive", quoting my collaborator Professor Richard Kock. The quote… Read more