Saiga
Lost 62% of its entire global population to a bacterial outbreak in three weeks — and then staged one of conservation's most dramatic recoveries
No photo available for Saiga
Population
Around 1.3 million — recovered from 50,000 after a catastrophic die-off, but still highly vulnerable
Location
Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan
Overview
The saiga antelope is a prehistoric-looking animal with a distinctive bulbous nose that warms and filters the cold, dust-laden air of the Central Asian steppe. In May 2015, a previously harmless bacterium (Pasteurella multocida) became suddenly virulent and killed 200,000 saiga — 62% of the global population — in under three weeks. The cause was traced to specific temperature and humidity conditions caused by climate change, which triggered the bacterium's transition to a deadly pathogen. Despite this, the population has since recovered dramatically due to protection from poaching. The recovery and the die-off together make saiga one of conservation's most instructive stories.
Why they're at risk
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Mass mortality events caused by Pasteurella multocida — a bacterium that lives harmlessly in saigas' respiratory tracts but becomes lethal under specific hot, humid conditions increasingly common due to climate change.
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Poaching for horns — male saiga horns are used in traditional Chinese medicine, creating high demand that previously drove the population from 1 million in the 1990s to under 50,000 by 2003.
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Habitat loss and degradation from agricultural expansion, fencing, and infrastructure that disrupts their long-distance migrations across the steppe.
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Climate change increasing both the frequency of die-off-triggering weather events and the severity of winter conditions that cause mass starvation.
Reasons for hope
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Anti-poaching enforcement in Kazakhstan dramatically reduced illegal killing — the population rebounded from under 50,000 in 2003 to over 1.3 million by 2023, one of the fastest recoveries of any large mammal.
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The 2015 die-off's cause was identified within months, giving conservationists the ability to monitor conditions that might trigger future events.
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Researchers have developed early-warning monitoring for the temperature-humidity conditions that trigger Pasteurella virulence, enabling pre-emptive veterinary responses.
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The saiga's exceptional reproductive rate — females can produce twins and reach sexual maturity within their first year — allows rapid population recovery when threats are reduced.