Latest Saiga Antelope Stories
Researchers at Murdoch University have revealed the composition of traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) through DNA sequencing technology.
Researchers at Murdoch University have used new DNA sequencing technology to reveal the animal and plant composition of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs).
DENVER, Nov. 11, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Having already funded research on the health of dolphins affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Betty White Wildlife Rapid Response Fund will now help the rare saiga antelope in Kazakhstan.
A Swiss conservation group says one-quarter of the Earth's antelope species are threatened with extinction and nine species are considered endangered. Unsustainable harvesting, whether for food or traditional medicine and human encroachment on their habitat are the main threats facing antelopes, said Philippe Chardonnet, co-chairman of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's antelope specialist group.
As traffic continues to build in parts of western Mongolia, conservationists grow increasingly weary of the potential consequences it may have for the saiga, a rare species of antelope.
Take a deerâ€™s body, attach a camelâ€™s head and add a Jimmy Durante nose, and you have a saiga â€“ the odd-ball antelope with the enormous schnoz that lives on the isolated steppes of Central Asia. Unfortunately, they are as endangered as they are strange-looking due to over-hunting. Now, according to a recent Wildlife Conservation Society study, their migration routes are in jeopardy as well.
The Saiga (Saiga tatarica), is a species of antelope which originally inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe zone from the foothills of the Carpathians and Caucasus into Dzungaria and Mongolia. Today they can only be found in a few areas in Russia, Kazakhstan, and western Mongolia. During the Ice Age they occurred from the British Isles through central Asia and the Bering Strait into Alaska. The Saiga stands 23.5 to 31.5 inches at the shoulder and weighs between 79 and 139 pounds....
- A morbid dread of being buried alive. Also spelled 'taphiphobia'.