When the great elephant-like mammoths and the fearsome saber tigers roamed the earth during the Ice Age, they lived side by side with a large-snouted animal: the saiga antelope. It is 10,000 years since the mammoth and the saber tiger disappeared, but in return the saiga still exists today. – The saiga antelope is a hardy species, says Mette Boye, environmental director of the WWF World Wildlife Fund. – It has lived side by side with the other large animals such as mammoths and saber tigers, but they have become extinct, while the saiga antelope has in some wild way actually survived. It says something about the animals we’re dealing with here – it’s a hardy species. But it is only almost that the saiga antelope is still here to this day. Because despite the antelope’s rugged nature, the species has been close to extinction. In 2003, the number of saigas had fallen to 21,000 in the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan, where the majority of the animals are located, but after a great deal of work both nationally and internationally to save the animals from becoming extinct, the trend has reversed. Today, the number is 1.3 million. This means that the saiga antelope has gone from being “critically endangered” on the international red list to today only being “near threatened”. In other words, the work for the saiga’s survival is a success story. Humans have threatened the antelope In order to understand why the otherwise resilient saiga antelope was close to extinction, we must visit a turning point in world history: the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The saiga lives in Central Asia, in countries such as Russia and Kazakhstan that were formerly Soviet states. – After the fall of the Soviet Union, there was a massive decline, partly because there was a violent rise in poaching. Both the meat and the horns, which were used for natural medicine, were highly sought after. After the fall of the Soviet Union, their living areas were divided up at the same time, so that they did not have the opportunity to move as freely as before, says Boye and elaborates: – People settled and then came infrastructure. Nature was pushed back in the areas where the antelope and many other animals were. So they got less free nature. But it is not only because humans have shot the antelopes and built houses, fences and roads in their habitats that the antelope has been close to extinction. – Another important reason is climate change. The climate changes on the Central Asian steppes where the antelope lives. It is drier where there used to be waterholes. It thus becomes more difficult for the antelopes to find water. Climate change has both been and still is a threat to the antelopes, says Boye. The combination of the various threats meant that the population of saiga antelopes on a global scale declined sharply. But now the trend has reversed, and in Kazakhstan, where the largest proportion of the antelopes live, the number of antelopes has risen by 1,100 per cent between 2015 and 2022 Law against poaching and new waterholes There is a large international effort behind the survival of the saiga antelope. – It has been a long-term work. It is rarely a quick fix. In the last two decades, governments, particularly with Kazakhstan at the forefront, have worked with research organizations and nature organisations, including WWF, says Boye. The work led to an international action plan, which, according to Boye, has, among other things, focused on enforcing the laws that already existed on poaching, protecting natural areas and supporting the local communities with information and education about the animals. WWF’s role has been to re-establish waterholes, says Boye. – It is also important in light of the climate changes affecting the area. Without waterholes, the small antelope calves cannot survive, and neither can the adults, she says. When new waterholes are made for the saiga, the entire ecosystem benefits – but the saiga antelope is also important in its own right, for nature and wildlife in the area. – It is a species which, from a naturalist’s point of view, is absolutely crucial. It joins and grazes in some areas that have use for this particular function. It is absolutely central to the ecosystem. And then it has a meaning for the people who live in the area. It is a source of nutrition historically, so the fact that it was close to extinction is also a problem for the local population, says Boye. There are many species to save Even though progress has been made for the saiga antelope, it is still classified as close to extinction – because the trend can quickly reverse again. – It is positive progress, but we must continue to protect the species. Climate change and changes in legislation can of course threaten the antelope, so it requires a sustained focus, says Boye. At the same time, the world is facing a biodiversity crisis. In 2022, WWF published a report which stated that the population of the world’s many species has fallen by 69 per cent since 1970. – Species are dying all the time, and we cannot reverse the trend. The big problem is that nature is under pressure in so many different ways. When a species dies out, it doesn’t come back, says Boye. She emphasizes that one can learn from the great effort to save the saiga antelope. – It is a very hopeful story that can inspire to save other endangered species. There is much to tackle in other parts of the world.
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Antelope from the ice age was close to extinction: now it is no longer threatened
