Saiga antelope

The big-nosed antelope from the mammoth age

The saiga's nose looks like a tiny trunk! In summer it filters out dust, and in winter it warms the cold air. Saigas live on the Ustyurt plateau in Uzbekistan and run at 80 km/h. They lived at the same time as mammoths — and they're still here!

The saiga (Saiga tatarica) is an antelope left over from the Ice Age; its range once stretched from Britain to Alaska. Today it lives in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan (Ustyurt), Russia and Mongolia. Its trunk-like nose filters dust and warms the air. Saigas migrate long distances and give birth in huge synchronised groups. In 2015 a bacterial disease killed 200,000 saigas in a few weeks; thanks to strict protection, numbers passed 1.9 million by 2024 — one of conservation's greatest successes. In 2023 the IUCN changed its status from CR to NT.

Fun facts

• A baby saiga can run on the very day it is born!
• Saigas can travel 100 km in a single day.
• Their nose is a natural 'mask and heater' in one.
• The saiga is one of the few species to recover after the disaster of 2015.