4 Days – 60,000 Endangered Antelope Dead: Why?

By Rodney Lee Conover

Central Kazakhstan: Saigas, a critically endangered, steppe-dwelling antelope were beginning to strangely start thinning and falling to the ground – dead.

Within four days, the entire herd — 60,000 saiga — had died. Wow.

Now, the researchers have found clues as to how more than half of the country’s herd, counted at 257,000 as of 2014, died so rapidly. Bacteria clearly played a role in the saigas’ demise. But exactly how these normally harmless microbes could take such a toll is still a mystery, Zuther said.

“The extent of this die-off, and the speed it had, by spreading throughout the whole calving herd and killing all the animals, this has not been observed for any other species,” Zuther said. “It’s really unheard of.”

Saigas, which are listed as critically endangered by theInternational Union for the Conservation of Nature, live in a few herds in Kazakhstan, one small herd in Russia and a herd in Mongolia. The herds congregate with other herds during the cold winters, as well as when they migrate to other parts of Kazakhstan, during the fall and spring. The herds split up to calve their young during the late spring and early summer. The die-off started during the calving …read more

Source:: Patriot Outdoor News