Did you know?
- The saiga is recognizable by an extremely unusual, over-sized, and flexible, nose structure. The nose is supposed to warm up the air in winter and filters out dust in summer.
- Saiga are nomadic creatures that frequently cross borders of provinces and countries during their several-hundred-mile migrations to winter grazing areas.
- Social structure. Saiga form herds of 30-40 animals.
- Lifespan. 6 to 10 years.
- Breeding. Gestation period is 140-150 days, with litter size 1-2. (A female saiga will begin breeding and give birth to her first calf by the time she’s a year old).
- Diet. Grasses, steppe lichens, herbs and shrubs.
- The saiga can migrate over distances of up to 1,000 kilometres between summer and winter.
- Saiga herds once numbered in their millions, but the global population has declined rapidly to just thousands. (Poaching and habia loss)