The Saiga antelope of the Eurasian steppe is perhaps one of the strangest looking ungulates on the planet. Its very distinct bulbous downward facing nostrils along with its long pointed horns almost give it the look of some strange deer/elephant hybrid. Unfortunately, as of February 2018, this weird but beautiful mammal remains critically engendered and continues to decline in population. Saiga face an unfortunate gauntlet of factors that are leading to its rapid decline, but arguably the most impactful has been habitat loss due to human agricultural development and climate change coupled with illegal hunting. The decline of this species rivals that of any other animal in terms of the size and speed at which the population fell. In the 1980s there were over a million Saiga on the Eurasian steppe, but in just 30-40 years that number has fallen to under 50,000 with an estimate of the population of S. t. mongolica being under 750 mature adults worldwide.
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