Before I start telling you about the Saiga, I do want to take a moment to cheer that I've managed to get to 100 posts here! I'm extremely proud of myself for that because I have bad issues with planning things out, then losing interest. I love learning and researching things, and I can usually manage to stick to something long enough to get things started, but I have issues not sticking with things. I've been planning this blog for a while, but it took me over a decade to not just start the blog, but stick with it. So, I'm proud of myself for staying at this, and I'm really hopeful I'll be able to keep at it and start sticking with things in other parts of my life too. Here's to hoping.
Now for the Saiga. It's an antelope, but it's sometimes called the world's weirdest/quirkiest antelope, and even sometimes even considered muppet-like. One of the most obvious reasons for that is...well, I'll show you. Here's a picture from the San Diego Zoo link below.
As you can see, they've got some lovely antlers. (Just curious, did you have to look up again to see them, in case they were more interesting than the nose that you probably spotted first? No shame. The nose is a bit distracting.)
The thing there is the same as several other animals with large noses. The larger nose keeps heat in from the air they breathe out, so the air they breathe in isn't as cold to them. Or, at least, that's the theory as I understand it. They also filter out the dust that gets kicked up by them running around in herds.
And, obviously, the noses help them find mates because the guys make nasal roars to advertise themselves, so having giant noses helps there.
Among the interesting things about these guys though is that they are among the short list of species that existed alongside Mammoths and wooly rhinos. Comparatively speaking, Mammoths aren't that long ago, but these antelopes are only about the size of goat and they shared space with Mammoths.
Not this one, pic from the US Fish and Wildlife link below, but it's ancestors certainly.
Saigas actually have had a bit of a rough ride over the last 150 years. There were a lot of them, then they became rarer around 1920 and got put under protection, bounced back a lot by 1950, have been hunted a bit more since then, have been protected more, and are now probably back to being populous enough to be ok.
These guys are also a bit unique because they travel a lot. They wander all over, and can travel--across land--over 70 miles a day. Humans can't do that, or at least not often. The Saiga can do that, with a nap in the middle of the day, in part because they can run at 50 miles an hour at top speed. So, an hour at top speed and a few hours at lower speeds, and that 70 miles goes by fast.
Like a lot of animals, there is a large market out there for the meat, skin, and horns of Saiga, but they're worth a lot more than that. Thankfully though, they bounce back easily and hopefully future generations of humans will be able to meet them and laugh at their noses. Don't even try to tell me you didn't at least chuckle. Thanks for reading, I'll see you for post 101 soon.
Sources:
Encyclopedia Britannica-- Saiga
Earth's Endangered Creatures-- Saiga
National Geographic-- The Saiga's Story of Conservation
Discover Wildlife-- The Antelope that looks like it comes from Star Wars
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