The Saiga antelope is a bizarre and unique species of antelope indigenous to Asia (with a range possibly extending into Europe and North America during the Pleistocene). It is one of a few species shown in the walking with beasts series that survived to the present day. Despite this, it is extremely endangered and at risk of extinction.
Facts[]
It was supposed that the saiga antelope is a very ancient animal, even being called a living fossil. The ancient saiga, which lived roughly 35,000 years ago, had few differences from the modern one. The remains of this antelope were found in West Europe, in an ancient asphalt lake in Baku, Azerbaijan, and in the US state of Alaska.
The saiga is a slim, lightly built, smallish antelope (around 75 cm in the shoulders), exclusively adapted to life in the open steppes. It has a meaty, wide nose with a complex in-built filtering system that prevent dust (the saiga runs with its head close to the ground) from getting into the breathing organs. It is quite unknown, in what steppes could such amazing adaptations appear? Other features of the animal tell about a way of life in very severe climatic conditions, with a regular shortage of food. The saiga is distantly related to the african antelope.
The skull of this animal was a sensation for the 19th century. For a long time, scientists believed that the saiga antelopes lived in Asian steppes for a relatively short time. Suddenly, at the extreme north-east of Russia, in 1876, the geography scientist I.D. Chersky discovered a saiga's skull.
In Walking with... Series[]
Walking with Beasts[]
Mammoth Journey[]
In the last episode of Walking with Beasts, the saiga has made a small cameo as the rightful companion of the Ice Age mammals, and was filmed live, rather that with CGI.
Trivia[]
Despite surviving past the Pleistocene into the present day, the Saiga antelope is critically endangered, being very close to extinction due to disease, habitat loss via climate change, and inbreeding.