Why can't you run fast in winter? Because with rapid breathing, the frosty air does not have time to heat up in the nasal cavity, which can lead to hypothermia.
The steppe animal saiga or saiga (lat. Saiga tatarica) solved this problem quite simply: its short trunk, hanging over its mouth, not only warms the air in winter, but also clears it of dust in summer.
This artiodactyl mammal has a rather original appearance, the most important distinguishing feature of which, undoubtedly, is the swollen, humped muzzle.
flickr/Xavier Bayod
Of course, the saiga cannot be called handsome - in addition to the ugly head, there is also an awkward, rather dense body, short thin legs and a slightly elongated bulky body. But it runs truly excellent: on a flat, hard surface it can reach speeds of up to 80 km/h.
Igor Shpilenok / naturepl.com
The weight of saiga rarely reaches 50 kilos and is usually in the range of 23-40 kg. The body length is from 110 to 146 cm, the tail is from 8 to 12 cm, and the height at the withers is from 60 to 80 cm. Yellowish-white translucent horns with ring ridges are found only in males. They are located almost vertically, and their length is approximately equal to the length of the head.
In winter, the entire body of the saiga is covered with thick, warm fur of a clay-gray color. Even on the face, hair grows, which, just like reindeer, protects the nose from the cold. After the spring molt, the fur becomes yellowish-red, almost dark and very sparse.
Saiga antelopes are found in southeastern Russia and Kazakhstan. They are comfortable in dry steppes and semi-deserts, in open areas with sparse vegetation. They never stay in one place for long and roam all the time. They literally eat on the go, so they don’t poison the soil. They prefer to stay away from cultural landscapes.
The natural enemies of saigas are wolves. However, like many other animals, this species has suffered greatly from human activity. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was almost wiped off the face of the earth due to uncontrolled hunting. During the Soviet Union, the saiga was protected and its population reached two million. They even started talking about its commercial significance and in some places hunting was allowed.
biolib.cz / Klaus Rudloff
However, in the 90s, through the efforts of poachers, the number of saigas was increased to 50 thousand. The worst thing is that they hunted him not at all for meat or skin, but solely for his horns, which were highly valued on the Chinese illegal market. During that dark time for saigas, tens, or even hundreds of thousands of their carcasses were scattered throughout the area. Today the species is in critical condition.’
I am glad that saigas reproduce quite well, both in captivity and in the wild. During the mating season, which begins in November, males compete for possession of their own harem, consisting of 5 or even 50 individuals. At the beginning of summer, each female gives birth to from one to three (usually 2) cubs.
Igor Shpilenok / naturepl.com
At first, the saigas lie motionless and wait for their mother, who is eating grass nearby. During this period, they are vulnerable to ferrets, foxes and other predators, the only protection against which is the ability of the kids to skillfully hide. Literally after a week they run briskly, and after a month they begin to pluck the grass themselves.
The saiga or saiga is a cloven-hoofed animal from the subfamily of true antelopes. Belongs to the bovid family.
Some time ago, this species of mammal lived over a vast territory from the Caucasus and the Carpathian Mountains to the Mongolian steppes. Ancient nomadic tribes, making long military campaigns, could not be afraid that they would die of hunger in the steppe. After all, saigas lived there in large numbers.
In the last century the situation has changed dramatically. These fleet-footed and timid animals were exterminated across most of their habitat. At the moment, a small population of saigas remains only in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Sometimes these artiodactyls are found in western Mongolia. Currently, this species is classified as an animal whose population is in a critical situation. The total number of these animals does not exceed 50,000 individuals.
Appearance and life expectancy of the saiga
Saigas are small mammals. The body length of the animal reaches 1.15-1.45 m. The height at the withers is up to 80 cm, the tail length is 10-12 cm.
Saigas are inhabitants of Asia. Saigas can weigh differently - from 35 to 60 kg. Moreover, females weigh significantly less than males. Males, unlike females, have horns. Saigas have short legs and an elongated body. A characteristic feature of this species is its unusual nose. It resembles a trunk, the nostrils are very close to each other. The animal has round ears. The horns of males grow up to 30 cm in length and are located vertically on the head. The lower part of the horns, from the middle to the base, has the appearance of annular ridges.
In the warm season, the fur of saigas is reddish in color. The upper back is darker than the sides, and the belly is the lightest shade. This species of artiodactyl has sparse and short fur. However, in winter it turns thick and long, and becomes a grayish-brown shade, lighter than in summer. These animals molt at intervals of 2 times a year. This happens in spring and autumn. In their natural environment, saigas live from 6 to 10 years.
Saigas do not live long - 6 - 10 years. Saiga behavior and nutrition
Saigas form huge herds. They graze in the steppe and eat the plants growing there. Some steppe vegetation is poisonous to humans and other animals. But saigas can eat such plants without consequences for themselves. To get food in the arid steppes, they have to migrate long distances. These animals do not consider the river an obstacle for themselves. They can swim very well. However, saigas, when moving, do not like to cross hills and climb mountain slopes.
In November, saigas begin their mating season. At this time, males fight for the right to own females. The male who wins the fight gathers a large group of females. There are up to 50 of them in a large harem. The losers, weaker males, have harems consisting of 5-10 females.
Saigas are herbivores. In May, less often in June, cubs are born. Young females usually give birth to one, older females - 2 cubs. According to statistics, two babies are born in 70% of cases. 30% of the total amount falls on one cub.
Saving a view
Experts began sounding the alarm about the number of saigas in the 90s of the last century. At that time, the most critical situation arose with the population of these animals. Saigas are very attractive to poachers. The horns of artiodactyls are of particular value. At that time, they could fetch $150 on the black market. Having killed a hundred saigas, a poacher could count on a round sum. Therefore, the extermination of saigas was widespread.
Saiga is a herd animal. This species is covered by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. The protection of the Convention has helped to slightly improve the deplorable situation with the number of saigas. A special reserve was created in the Kalmyk steppe to preserve this species.
The saiga was in the recent past the only antelope that lived in Europe. To be precise, in taxonomy it occupies a position between gazelles and mountain goats, and its closest relative is the rare and little-known Tibetan antelope orongo.
Male saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica).
In the Pleistocene, saigas lived throughout Eurasia and even in Alaska, but after global glaciation they survived only in the steppe zone of the continent. Even 150-200 years ago, their range extended from Western China to the foothills of the Carpathians, but in the 20th century it narrowed sharply and now consists of several areas in the southern Volga region, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia. These animals inhabit exclusively open landscapes, avoiding even small groves and ravines. They like endless low-grass steppes and semi-deserts, where there is not a single river for tens of kilometers around. It is interesting that in the appearance of saigas, only thin, strong legs indicate a love of running, but the proportions of the rest of their body parts are closer to those of sheep. With a height at the withers of 60-80 cm, saigas reach a weight of 25-50 kg. Just like mountain goats, they have scent glands between their toes. However, when looking at the animal, it is not these features that catch your eye, but its unusual muzzle.
The long nose of the saiga hangs down like a trunk, the wide nasal cavities give the muzzle a swollen appearance, and they end in large nostrils.
The nose, similar to a gas mask tube, makes the saiga not very attractive, but this structure is not accidental. In the summer, when a running herd kicks up a cloud of dust, the wide nasal passages prevent dust particles from entering the lungs, and in the winter the inhaled air quickly warms up in them, so these animals can easily tolerate a significant drop in temperature.
Male saiga antelopes can be easily distinguished from females by a pair of small vertical horns with a ribbed surface. Otherwise, both sexes look the same: in summer the animals are sand-colored with a slightly lighter belly, in winter their upper body is gray-sandy, and their belly, nose, lower throat and rump are white. The quality of the wool also differs. If the summer fur is very short and close-fitting, then the winter fur is moderately long and a little harsh.
Female saiga.
Saigas live in large herds numbering hundreds and thousands of individuals. Apparently, they do not have a clear hierarchy; the animals simply follow those in front. In general, these ungulates are characterized by very high mobility. Even when grazing, they constantly move at a pace, nibbling grass as they go, but they often interrupt this activity and break into a run. Interestingly, saigas do not like to gallop; the favorite gait of these ungulates is ambling. This is a very economical method of transportation, so animals can reach speeds of up to 80 km/h without getting tired for a long time. Saiga antelopes run with their necks stretched forward and their heads hung low, and from time to time they make vertical jumps to inspect the surroundings. From places with high snow cover, animals migrate south in winter.
The body of these antelopes is ideally adapted to living in arid areas. In spring and early summer they try to eat the juiciest grains. The moisture they contain is enough to satisfy their thirst, so saigas practically do not drink during this period.
In the second half of summer, the grasses dry out and animals begin to regularly visit watering holes.
In autumn and winter, when the nutritional value of cereals is low, saigas eat saltworts. It has been repeatedly noted that they eat plants that are poisonous to livestock without harm to their health. But these animals do not harm the fields, because they do not like dug up soil, on which it is difficult for them to move.
The rut begins for saigas in late November - early December. During this period, males are very excited and eat little. Most of the time they rush around, knocking females into a harem, which can number from 5 to 20 individuals. Rivals are driven off by butting horns, and the territory is marked by leaving piles of droppings in holes dug by the hooves. In May, pregnant females leave the herd and give birth to 1-2 cubs. It is interesting that, unlike most animals, they choose not secluded corners to give birth, but areas with sparse vegetation and bald spots on the ground. Saiga babies are perhaps the most obedient babies in the world.
In the first days of life, they hardly move, but lie on the ground all the time, with their necks stretched out.
In this position, they wait for the mother to come and feed them. If an animal or a person approaches the cubs, they choose the partridge tactic, that is, they do not run away, but, on the contrary, freeze, holding their breath. The yellowish fur perfectly camouflages them against the backdrop of sandy ground (for this, females choose open places). The endurance of the saigas is so strong that you can get close to them. Females reach sexual maturity very early; already at 7-8 months of age they participate in the rut, and bear their first offspring a year after birth. Males reach maturity only at 2.5 years.
The life expectancy of saigas is generally short. This is explained by the fact that these small, weakly protected antelopes are easy to hunt for wolves and golden eagles. In addition, high mortality is also influenced by such a phenomenon as cyclical fluctuations in numbers. About once every 10-12 years, the steppes experience particularly snowy and frosty winters. During such seasons, it is difficult for saigas to move through deep snow; they injure their legs on the crust while digging up dry grass. Especially many males, exhausted by the rut, die, and then the steppe is littered with their corpses. However, due to high fertility, the population size soon recovers.
A young male saiga in winter plumage.
These ungulates have long been the object of hunting. Local residents use their meat and skins, and sell their horns to China, where healing properties are attributed to this raw material. At the beginning of the 20th century, extermination reached such proportions that saigas almost became extinct. What saved them was that a series of military conflicts began in the countries of Central Asia, and people forgot about commercial hunting for a while. Unfortunately, a hundred years later, we are seeing a repeat decline caused by poaching. The world population of saigas is now estimated at 30,000-50,000 animals; these animals are listed in the International Red Book. Saiga antelopes are easily tamed, but are extremely rare in zoos because they do not tolerate forced inactivity well.
An animal of the steppe, the saiga is similar in appearance to a sheep on high thin legs. The most remarkable feature of the saiga is its humped muzzle with an overhanging soft, movable proboscis above the mouth. This is what distinguishes this animal from all other ungulates.
External description.
All saigas have round nostrils located close to each other at the end of their proboscis, pointing downwards. Male saiga antlers are translucent, light waxy in color, set almost vertically. They bend like a lyre and on most of their parts bear several annular ridges. The color of these animals in summer is yellowish-red, without a white “mirror” in the tail area. The color in winter is very light, clayey, sometimes gray. The body is 100-145 cm long, the height at the withers is 55-80 cm, and the weight can reach 50 kg. Females are usually smaller than males.
Habitat.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, saigas inhabited all steppes and semi-deserts from the Carpathians in the west to Western China and Mongolia in the east. He lived in Asia along the valleys of rivers such as the Yenisei, Irtysh and Lena, penetrating all the way to the Arctic Ocean. However, in the second half of the 19th century, people rapidly populated the steppes of the European part of Russia, and the saiga almost disappeared from Europe. As a result, at present it has been preserved only in the most remote areas of the Volga in Europe, and in Asia - along the Ustyurt, in the Ili-Karatal interfluve, in the region of the western lakes of Mongolia and some other places.
The saiga lives in semi-deserts and dry steppes with dense rocky or clay soil, on plains. He tries to avoid not only high mountains, but even hills and areas simply crossed by valleys and ravines. Only during snow storms in winter does it occasionally enter areas of lumpy sand overgrown with bushes, where it tries to find protection from the freezing winds. The saiga's love for the plains is determined by its deep and ancient adaptations to ambling. Thanks to it, the saiga on a flat surface can reach speeds of up to 70 km/h. But on rough terrain he is helpless.
Lifestyle and nutrition.
Saigas feed on any steppe grasses, even those that are poisonous to many domestic animals. In summer they choose cereals for themselves, and in winter - hodgepodge. During the dry period of the year, this mountain animal chooses those plants whose humidity is at least 50-65%. Looking for more succulent grasses, huge herds of saigas walk across the steppe, and the more the grass dries, the more active the saiga animal becomes. In June-August, when the grass literally burns out under the sun and there is no rain for a long time, saigas head to rivers and lakes to drink.
Despite the fact that saigas look for succulent young plants in the steppe, carefully nibbling every green shoot, they are extremely reluctant to enter crops of wheat, corn, alfalfa or other agricultural plants. Loose soil in the fields interferes with fast running, and dense plants overwhelm the eyes of the saigas, who always run with their heads lowered to the ground. Although saigas usually live in huge herds, they do not overgraze pastures. This animal of the steppe is constantly on the move, feeding on the move. Saigas spend the winter in places where there is no snow or where it is no deeper than 15-20 cm. From here, from the south, in early spring, like birds, saigas rush to the north.
Reproduction.
In March-April, pregnant females look for the most remote places in the steppe, where there are no watering places nearby, and, therefore, no wolves. Females gathered in such “maternity hospitals” give birth to newborns in early May. In the first birth, the female gives birth to one cub, females older than one year give birth to two. The entire population immediately increases by 115% after the addition of young animals. This early onset of sexual maturity and the high fertility of females ensure a very rapid restoration of the species' numbers. Females form “maternity houses” where grass cover is sparse and there are many bare places completely without grass. Such areas warm up well, and the cold May dew quickly disappears under the first rays of the sun. Newborn babies always lie on completely bare areas of soil, merging with its surface. When approached, they close their eyes and hide. Such a cub is not easy to notice even from two or three steps. But if you look closely, the entire steppe around you turns out to be covered with babies. There are an average of 5-6 newborns per 1 hectare. When the cubs get a little stronger, the saigas return to migrate to the summer pasture.
Social structure and numbers.
In late autumn, herds of saigas move further south, and here they begin mating season in early December. Each adult male needs to take possession of as many females as possible. Males, through fierce fights over females, each collect their own harem. Harems consist of 4-6, and sometimes 15-20 females. Polygamy of males is a very important biological feature of the species, providing, along with high fertility and early maturity of females, a rapid increase in numbers. In the steppe where saigas live, very harsh winters with snowstorms and severe frosts occur every 10 years. In such winters, many animals die, and the first to suffer are adult males, weakened during the mating season due to fights. However, this does not greatly affect the overall number - the saiga herd is restored very soon. In the life of saigas, their ability to travel thousands of kilometers in a short period of time is of great importance. During snowfall, a significant part of the population leaves the site of natural disasters. Like a ship of the steppe, the saiga can move at high speed for many days.
Species protection.
Studying the lifestyle of these animals, especially the features of their biology that determine the rapid restoration of numbers, allowed scientists to create rational measures for the protection of this species.
Currently, many state hunting farms in Kazakhstan carry out veterinary supervision of saigas. Specialists protect animals from poachers, make artificial watering holes, and feed animals during harsh winters by dropping hay from airplanes. Saiga antelope is an important game animal. He uses skin, meat and horns (as medicinal raw materials). To prevent saigas from becoming rare animals again, their protection is now being strengthened, hunting reserves are being established, and the number of artificial watering places is growing.
Saiga antelopes are the only wild ungulate mammals living in the Russian steppes. These are small antelopes (with a body weight from 20 to 50 kg) of an original appearance, covered with sandy-clay-colored wool. Their humped muzzle is swollen and ends with a short trunk hanging over the mouth, at the end of which there is a pair of nostrils pointing downwards. Humped nose depends on the extreme enlargement of the nasal cavities, which act as organs that warm the cold air inhaled by saigas during their fast run in winter.
Thick, long fur, which grows back in winter, protects saigas from fierce snowstorms, and the hair covering their faces, like that of reindeer, protects their noses from getting cold. Saigas live in the southeast of the European part of Russia, in the Lower Volga region, in most of Kazakhstan and in a number of other areas.
Saigas prefer completely flat spaces of dry steppes and semi-deserts with rocky or hard clay soils, where they feel more confident and are able to avoid attacks from enemies (for example, wolves). Saigas amble and can reach speeds on dense soils of up to 70-80 km per hour.
All summer, herds of saigas of several dozen heads graze in the steppes, eating juicy shoots of various grasses (quinoa, wormwood, wheatgrass, solyanka, etc.) as they go, receiving with them the water and nutrients necessary for the body. By winter, they are grouped into thousands herds, sticking to areas with little snow. In severe winters with heavy snowfalls, saigas migrate south to places with more favorable conditions, sometimes covering distances of hundreds of kilometers.
In the spring, saigas return to their native places, where females give birth to 1-3 (usually 2) cubs in May, choosing for this the most remote areas of the steppe with very sparse vegetation. Newborns can run well within a week, and after a month they begin to nibble grass. But for the first days, the babies lie helpless on the bare ground, and although their color blends into the general background of the area and is hardly noticeable, they are in danger of attack from ferrets, foxes, eagles and other predators. When an enemy approaches, the baby saiga hides so that it can be difficult to find.
Saigas are diurnal and sleep at night. For adult animals, the most dangerous enemy is the steppe wolf, from which one can only escape by flight.
Hunting for saigas has long been prohibited. Measures were taken to protect and breed saigas, first on the island of Barsakelmes (Aral Sea), and then in other places (Betpak-Dala in Kazakhstan and near Astrakhan). Gradually, the number of saigas began to increase and reached commercial sizes. They provide excellent meat and hide, and their horns serve as valuable raw materials for the manufacture of medicines.