Return of the saiga antelope
Protecting Kazakhstan’s survivors in the long term
Saiga antelopes prefer cold winter steppes and semi-deserts - photo: shutterstock/Victor Tyakht
Saiga antelopes already roamed the Earth during the last Ice Age, alongside mammoths, and once lived even in Central Europe. Today, their last remaining strongholds are the cold winter steppes and semi-deserts of Central Asia. Around 1990, more than one million saigas still inhabited the steppes of Kazakhstan.
In the years that followed, their population collapsed dramatically. A massive rise in poaching led to a devastating decline, leaving only around 30,000 to 40,000 saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan in the early 2000s.
Since then, many populations have recovered thanks to intensive conservation efforts within the country. However, new challenges in the coexistence of humans and wildlife have emerged. Here, we trace this development and provide insights into our NABU project "Community-Based Conservation of the Saiga Antelope".
+++ Adventure during Saiga Calving Season in Kazakhstan +++
Get to know our project and get actively involved! Apply by 15 March
Are you a NABU member with an interest in nature and wildlife, and would you like to observe young saiga antelopes in their natural habitat? Then this is your opportunity. From May 1 to 15, our experienced project team of volunteers and local partners will travel to the northern Ustyurt Plateau in Kazakhstan during the saiga calving season. For the first time, self-financed NABU members can accompany the project team: As part of the community-based wildlife conservation project, participants will support local monitoring of flora and fauna and become part of a real steppe adventure focused on the saiga antelope.
Information about the project visit
- Participants contribute approximately 2,000 € to cover costs, paid to the Kazakh project partner
- Accommodation will be in tents and in the homes of local partners; most travel is by off-road vehicle
- English and/or Russian language skills, basic species knowledge and a good level of physical fitness are required
- Travel to and from Aktau Airport and travel insurance are arranged individually
Apply now!
Send an email to our project team including a motivation statement of no more than 300 characters explaining why you would like to take part.
The deadline for submissions is March 15: til.dieterich@NABU.de
Saigas in Central Kazakhstan – population recovery and project insights
In 2015, the saiga population in central Kazakhstan suffered a mass mortality event in which around 200,000 animals died—approximately 85 percent of the population at that time. Thanks to intensive conservation measures implemented by the government and supported by local and international NGOs such as NABU, saiga populations have since recovered.
According to current monitoring data, saiga numbers in the region are now comparable to those before the mass mortality event. In the largest population, in the Ural region, more than half a million animals were recorded at the beginning of 2021. Today, experts estimate the global saiga population at around four million individuals — remarkable conservation success that also brings new local challenges.
Background: The saiga antelope through the ages
Even after the Ice Age, saigas were still found in Central and Eastern Europe. They became extinct in Ukraine in the 18th century. Today, saigas survive in only five isolated regions: Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.The species was already on the brink of extinction at the beginning of the 20th century. Strict protection measures enabled populations to recover. During the Soviet era, saigas were intensively used for meat production and, in some regions, deliberately reduced as so-called agricultural pests.
In the past, extreme weather events such as heavy snowfall and ice formation, diseases and other factors repeatedly caused mass die-offs. Thanks to their high reproductive rates, saiga populations were usually able to recover. Females can become pregnant in their first year of life and typically give birth to twins from their second year onwards.
Saiga horn – popular commodity on the black market
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, vast saiga herds vanished within just a few years. One major reason was rapidly increasing poverty in post-Soviet countries, which led to a surge in poaching.
Saiga antelopes were killed in large numbers, mainly for the horns of males. The meat was sold locally, while the horns were exported to China, where demand for saiga horn in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) remains high. Ground into powder, the horns are used as medicinal products. On the black market, prices reached up to 350 euros per kilogram. As male saigas were heavily depleted, reproduction collapsed. With a population decline of more than 90 percent within a single decade, the saiga antelope became one of the most threatened mammal species worldwide.
Poaching is still a major threat for the saiga antelope - photo: Til Dieterich/NABU, Stefan Michel
Current challenges and solutions
Today, individual herds in the Ural steppe can consist of up to 100,000 saiga antelopes. Such large numbers create new conflicts with local communities. Where herds remain on hay meadows for extended periods, winter fodder for livestock is at risk.
Many farmers fear damage to cereal crops and competition with their animals. Calls for so-called “population regulation,” meaning large-scale culling, are becoming louder. There is a growing risk that the saiga could shift in public perception from a strictly protected rarity to a pest.
To prevent this, conflict-mitigation strategies are urgently needed. These include sustainable use options for farmers and local communities that create incentives to tolerate and protect saiga antelopes. This is the basis of our community-based approach in the Ustyurt region in south-western Kazakhstan, near the border with Uzbekistan. The herds there are among the smallest and most vulnerable; in 2015, they were estimated at no more than 1,300 animals.
Large herd of saiga antelopes in the Ural region - Photo: T. Dieterich
Our approach: turning herders and poachers into saiga protectors
The government alone cannot safeguard the saiga population. State wildlife rangers are unable to effectively patrol these vast landscapes. Since 2015, NABU has therefore worked with local experts in the Ustyurt region to prevent the extinction of the saiga antelope. Our concrete actions include:
- Gaining local residents from key Ustyurt villages as conservation allies
- Advising and supporting communities in establishing wildlife protection groups and training their own rangers
- Equipping rangers with vehicles, binoculars and GPS devices as an immediate measure
- Supporting patrols by building and furnishing ranger shelters
The members of the community-based groups bear a large part of the costs themselves, primarily by protecting “their” saiga antelopes from poaching without pay.
Saiga monitoring is a key component of the conservation strategy - photo: Aibat Muzbay
Local people want to preserve the saiga as part of their cultural identity while also benefiting economically in the future. Together, a system is being developed and proposed to Kazakh conservation authorities that ensures people who live alongside saigas and protect their habitat also receive financial benefits. This may include ecotourism as well as legal, regulated and sustainable hunting of recovered populations.
Conservation efforts for the saiga also protect the steppe ecosystem from degradation. Grazing herds fertilize the soil, disperse plant seeds and keep vegetation short. This benefits predators such as the endangered saker falcon, which relies on open landscapes to spot prey, and creates suitable habitats for species like sandgrouse.
The future of the saiga antelope
The saiga antelope - photo: P. Romanov
Despite local successes, saigas are still under threat. Poaching continues to endanger small populations in Russia, Mongolia, the Ustyurt region of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The Mongolian saiga is additionally threatened by diseases transmitted from livestock and habitat degradation caused by intensive grazing.
Railway lines, roads and border fences obstruct saiga migrations. Agriculture, mining and oil and gas extraction continue to reduce available habitat. Future construction projects pose further risks.
Long-term protection of this remarkable species will depend on close and ambitious cooperation between conservationists and local communities. Only then will the saiga antelope have a future in Central Asia.
The project “Community-Based Conservation of the Saiga Antelope and Other Species Through the Development of Village-Level Wildlife Conservation Organizations in Kazakhstan” is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment with funds from the Advisory Assistance Program (BHP) for environmental protection in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, as well as other countries bordering the European Union, and is supported by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and the Federal Environment Agency. The authors are responsible for the content of this publication.
Further INformation
Saiga bounds back from near extinction
Good news for Central Asia's saiga antelopes! After many years of conservation work by NABU and others on behalf of the species, populations have recovered dramatically. These unique animals are no longer on the brink of extinction. A resounding success story! more →
Species profile: Saiga antelope
A trunklike nose gives the saiga antelope its unique appearance and is a perfect adaptation to its surroundings. But the survival of these striking animals is threatened by poaching, loss of habitat and disease. more →
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