Council Chronicle

Friday, April 16, 2021
Log in
  • National News
  • Business & Economy
  • Technology
  • Science
  • Health
  • About CC
    • Our Team
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy GDPR
    • Terms of Use

Pages

  • About Council Chronicle
  • Contact Us
  • Our Team
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Terms of Use

Recent Posts

  • Former Wife of Prolific Arizona Serial Killer Speaks Up First Time after Scottsdale Suicide June 29, 2018
  • Indiana Couple Arrested After Authorities Discovered Cruel Punishment Device in Home June 28, 2018
  • Schizophrenic Oregon Man Who Was Seen Carrying His Mother’s Head Committed to Psychiatric Facility June 27, 2018
  • Texas Lawmen Looking for Four Suspect Who Tortured Child During Home Invasion June 27, 2018
  • Retirement Home Resident Reported Fake Fire to Draw In Firefighters and Shoot Them June 26, 2018
  • Arkansas Man Kills Wife, Sticks Body In Chest Freezer Before Committing Suicide June 26, 2018
  • West Virginia Man Arrested After He Tried to Baptize Family by Drowning Them in the Bathtub June 25, 2018

More than 120,000 Saiga Antelopes Died in Kazakhstan after Mysterious Illness

June 1, 2015 By Karla Connors Leave a Comment

Email, RSS Follow

antelope population

Kazakhstan’s endangered saiga antelope population took a huge blow last month, after more than 120,000 specimens died across the country. Scientists are still trying to figure out what caused the sudden collapse, but a respiratory disease is the most likely suspect.

“This loss is a huge blow for saiga conservation in Kazakhstan and in the world,” said Erlan Nysynbaev, Kazakhstan’s vice agriculture minister. About 90 percent of the planet’s saiga population lives in Kazahstan, and almost half of it died to illness since mid-May.

Zoology scientist Bibigul Sarsenova says the mysterious loss represents more than a third of the global saiga population. The urge to find what caused it is even greater, as Sarsenova argues the species cannot withstand another catastrophic event. “Should this happen again next year, they may simply disappear,” she explained.

The saiga antelope is already on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s “critically endangered” species. The saiga, who’s been around since the Ice Age, is faced with complete extinction should the researchers not find a treatment for the mystifying disease.

Since May 11, when the first dead antelope was discovered, more than 121,000 carcasses were found, spread across three of the largest areas of their usual habitat. Although bacterial infections are fairly common among the saigas, they are not deadly unless the animals already had a weakened immune system.

Kazahstan health officials believe a bacterial disease called Pasteurellosis is responsible for the near wipeout. Normally, the respiratory disease shouldn’t be harmful, at least not on such a large scale. What’s really puzzling the scientists is what crippled the immune system of the saigas in the first place.

Agriculture Ministry experts have already started analyzing samples of water, air and soil, hoping to get to the root of the problem. The mass deaths represent a global problem, so scientists from the World Organization for Animal Health, Britain and Germany have joined the Kazakh investigation.

Last month’s sudden deaths are the deadliest single event ever recorded that struck the saigas. About 12,000 antelopes were reported dead in 2010, while the previous cataclysmic incident dates back to 1984, when 100,000 antelopes perished in mysterious circumstances.

Kazahstan’s saiga population counted more than 1 million specimens in the 1990s. The species, famous for their bulbous nose and lyre-shaped horns, is as old as the saber-toothed tigers and the mammoths. However, reckless hunting and, later, poaching have dwarfed their numbers, as only 300,000 antelopes were left in the country prior to May’s deadly event.

On the bright side, having outlived the mammoths is no small feat, and the saigas are also renowned for their resilience. Bradnee Chambers, representing the UN-backed Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, believes the population can recover quickly, as the saiga antelopes often have twins.

Image Source: Yibada

Email, RSS Follow

Filed Under: Science

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 18 other subscribers

Recent Articles

ethics in dictionary highlighted

NIH Will Examine Ethical Problems of One of Their Studies

March 27, 2018 By Adam Martin Leave a Comment

biomutant character

Eleven-Minutes Long Biomutant Trailer Prepares You for Amazing Gameplay and Mechanics

August 26, 2017 By Adam Martin Leave a Comment

intime alibaba

Intime May Be Acquired By Its Founder And Alibaba

January 11, 2017 By Jesse Skelton Leave a Comment

Newborn baby

A Woman Gave Birth to Baby After Fertilizing Frozen Ovary

December 16, 2016 By Lee Raulin Leave a Comment

Parkes radio telescope

Hunting Aliens with Parkes Radio Telescope

November 11, 2016 By Ben Beckstrom Leave a Comment

man suffering from election season stress

Stressed Out? Here Are 7 Ways to Get Rid of Election Season Stress

October 19, 2016 By Adam Martin Leave a Comment

Disney World wants to prevent fraud.

Disney World prevents fraud by scanning children’s fingers

September 8, 2016 By Adam Martin Leave a Comment

artificial intelligence

How will the Artificial Intelligence will affect our life by 2030?

September 3, 2016 By Adam Martin Leave a Comment

opera sync

Opera Sync resets passwords after it was hacked

August 30, 2016 By Adam Martin Leave a Comment

viping

Why are teens viping – flavours or nicotine?

August 26, 2016 By Dustin Smith Leave a Comment

sex abuse

Doctors in sex abuse cases return to work. What happens with their victims?

August 25, 2016 By Adam Martin Leave a Comment

affection

Affection or food – which is more important for a dog?

August 19, 2016 By Adam Martin Leave a Comment

Chipotle restaurant

Chipotle to Open its First Burger Joint

July 30, 2016 By Ben Beckstrom Leave a Comment

Chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A Rolls Out Protein-Packed Grill Breakfast Sandwich

July 20, 2016 By Ben Beckstrom Leave a Comment

Related Articles

  • Two neutron stars colliding, forming a gravitational wave

    Are Colliding Wormholes the Real Producers of Gravitational Waves? (Study)

    Jun 15, 2018
  • Trepanation

    Ancient Peruvian Doctors Better at Trepanation Than Civil War Surgeons, New Study Finds

    Jun 13, 2018
  • Songbirds

    UK and Germany Biologists Closer to Understanding How Two-Way Communication Works in the Animal Kingdom

    Jun 6, 2018
  • nile crocodiles on white sand in a museum

    Crocodiles Listen to Bach as Researchers Study Their Brains in New Experiment (Study)

    May 9, 2018
  • view of coast from isle of skye

    Scientists Discover Rare, Giant Dinosaur Tracks in Scotland (Study)

    Apr 5, 2018
  • Intelligent Vehicles

    Stanford to Spearhead Intelligent Vehicles Revolution with Cars that can See Around the Corner

    Mar 7, 2018
  • Floating robot and ISS

    Floating Robot To Join the ISS Crew in June

    Mar 5, 2018
  • exploding star

    First Ever Photo of a Star Exploding Captured by an Amateur Photographer

    Feb 26, 2018
  • little skate at the bottom of the ocean

    Did Ancient Fish Start Walking Before Even Leaving the Ocean? (Study)

    Feb 12, 2018
  • Mayan pyramid in Guatemala

    Laser Technology Reveals More Maya Ruins in Guatemala

    Feb 4, 2018

Categories

  • Breaking News
  • Business & Economy
  • Entertainment
  • Health
  • National News
  • Nature
  • Science
  • Technology
  • World News

Copyright © 2021 CouncilChronicle.com

About · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Contact