Saiga antelope

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 …

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 …

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 …