Following an extensive airborne survey involving two AN-2 aircraft and totalling 215 hours, it has been established that Kazakhstan’s saiga population has more than recovered following a concerning slump in numbers, which led to the species being listed as critically endangered, reports the Astana Times.
Different herds across the region are reported to be up in size, some by as much as over 50%, notably the Ustyurt population, whose numbers have reached around 119,000.
The survey also found that the Ural saiga population now has some 2.7 million animals, with the Betpak-Dala 1.87 million, both notable increases, amazing some experts and proving that efforts to protect this species of antelope have been a resounding success.
The saiga, with its very distinct nose, once inhabited vast swathes of the Eurasian landmass from what is now Chukotka to as far west as northern France – with some accounts claiming that its habitat once included England – before numbers plummeted in the 2010s. A 95% drop in the global population was said to have been caused by hunting, poaching, disease, and predation, as well as climate change in its favoured steppe and grassland habitat, which the species took time to adapt to.
With a total of 4.6 million now believed to roam Kazakhstan, given that the figure at the start of the millennium was under 25,000, the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan (ACBK) can take a lot of the credit for this remarkable recovery, in part down to strict controls on poaching, monitoring, and conservation schemes.
While the real winner in this ongoing saga is the saiga itself, the ACBK is likely to be proud of the 2024 Earthshot Prize it collected for its efforts in this regard, notably the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative.
