The Saiga

Extract

The prospect of game-farming or game-cropping is very much in the news in parts of Africa to-day, as a means of conserving wild life and at the same time managing it so as to provide a supply of meat and other animal products. It is, therefore, very interesting to see how the Russians have succeeded in rescuing from extermination an animal only recently in grave danger of becoming extinct, and in converting it, in the space of a few years, into a major national resource. The animal at the centre of this exciting and encouraging story is the saiga, a small steppe antelope (Saiga tatarica). Sometimes called the big-nosed saiga, this antelope is found only in the U.S.S.R. It has a body length of 120 to 135 cm., stands 75 to 80 cm. at the shoulder, and weighs 40 to 45 kg. Its natural habitat is the steppe, an environment eminently suitable for a population of social ungulates.