Saiga antelope , native to Eastern Europe and most of Central Asia , support a annihilative blow in 2015 when adeadly outbreakwiped out over 200,000 of the population establish on Kazakhstan ’s Ustyurt Plateau . As one of the smallest population of this critically threaten species , environmentalist have been closely monitoring the wellness of the ruck in an effort to convalesce their number .
thing were looking bleak , with just four calves reportedly born in 2019 , but acensuson the antelopes revealed their population had rebounded to 334,400 creature , more than threefold records demand two years earlier . Then in May of this twelvemonth , an exciting discovery reported byConservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan(ACBK ) on Facebook reveal a new calving site home to 530 newborn saiga , representing a much - need baby godsend for the peril universe .
It ’s really exciting for all of us , ” said Saken Dildakhmet , insistence escritoire for the Kazakhstan government ’s Committee of Forestry and Wildlife according to a account fromNational Geographic . “ Due to good auspices and patrolling efforts of the state Ranger after the peck dice - off , every year we ’re seeing a unfluctuating emergence of the saiga population . ”
Millions of saiga once trod the grassy plains of the Ustyurt Plateau , but after the collapse of the Soviet Union , they were hunted for their horns , which were traded for use in traditional Asian medicine , plump their numbers in Central Asia . Poaching has since reject but the Saiga tatarica continues to face an uphill struggle against human infrastructure , which has interrupted their annual migration .
The Kazakh authorities installed fence to divide the country with Uzbekistan in 2014 to deter poachers and drug seller , but it did n’t just blockade them . Saiga winter over the border before come back to Kazakhstan to multiply in previous April , intend their natural migration was blocked , though evidence of some sneaking through was discovered in the var. of fur and blood .
spread in the fencing were introduced to try and have the best this literal obstruction , and after years of being ignored , it seems the saiga have finally begun using them . However , researchers press that numbers still need to see pregnant advance as compare to former universe estimates , a baby boom of even 530 is still not enough . For a universe that was once hanging on by a thread , however , the 2020 calf count for the Ustyurt Plateau population is a promising augury .
[ H / T : National Geographic ]
