The saiga antelope's struggle for survival
Overview of the saiga.
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Transcript
The vast steppes of southern Russia and Kazakhstan - these open, windswept grasslands are scorchingly hot in summer and perishingly cold in winter. They’re home to a strange and prehistoric creature. It’s one of the fastest declining mammals in the world. The saiga antelope - it’s instantly recognizable by it’s large and fleshy nose, which filters out the dry dust in summer and warms up the icy air in winter.
The saiga once roamed these steppes in vast herds of hundreds of thousands. But their horns are highly pized in traditional Chinese medicine, and they've been hunted close to extinction. Despite being protected today, poaching and habitat destruction continues, and in the last 15 years the population has declined by a further 95 percent. Whether the saiga antelope will ever recover, remains to be seen.
The saiga once roamed these steppes in vast herds of hundreds of thousands. But their horns are highly pized in traditional Chinese medicine, and they've been hunted close to extinction. Despite being protected today, poaching and habitat destruction continues, and in the last 15 years the population has declined by a further 95 percent. Whether the saiga antelope will ever recover, remains to be seen.