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A female's decision to join an aggregation or to calve solitarily depends on her parturition date relative to other individuals and on the number of other females in the birth area. The results are robust to changes in other parameter values. The Evolutionarily Stable Strategy is to join an aggregation and stay for the full period of neonatal vulnerability if calving early in the birth period, to join the aggregation but to leave it early if calving later in the birth period, and to calve solitarily if calving at the end of the birth period. The possible effects of human disturbance on female behaviour are investigated, and testable hypotheses are presented about the behaviour of females in…
Strategy performance is assessed with respect to a conservation criterion, the revenues achieved and their variability. Strategies that harvest heavily, even when the population is apparently very large, perform badly in the robustness trials. Setting a threshold below which harvesting does not take place, and above which all individuals are harvested, does not provide effective protection against over-harvesting. Strategies that rely on population growth rates rather than estimates of population size are more robust to biased estimates. The strategies that are most robust to uncertainty are simple, involving harvesting a relatively small proportion of the population each year.
We examined 133 saigas culled for meat in autumn 1997, and found three species of cestode and 12 nematodes (nine in the abomasum), but no trematodes or lungworms. The most abundant species were Marshallagia marshalli, Marshallagiamongolica,andNematodirus gazellaein the abomasum,Nematodirus gazellaein the small intestine, andSkrjabinema ovisin the large intestine.
Long-term population dynamics research has revealed fundamental differences in how sex/age classes are affected by changes in density and weather. Consequently, management must be tailored to the age and sex structure of the population, rather than to simple population counts.
Although populations of Saiga tatartica tatarica have reasonable levels of genetic diversity, their conservation status is perilous. The Kalmykian and Kazakhstan samples each contained unique haplotypes, although the species as a whole appears polyphyletic, consistent with recent fragmentation and rapid population decline. An understanding of the population genetics of this species is an essential prerequisite for conservation action.
Partatuberculosis in Saiga Antelope (Saiga Tatarica) and Experimental Transmission to Domestic Sheep
One experimentally infected sheep developed progressive clinical illness 1 yr postinoculation. Few M. paratuberculosis were isolated from feces or tissues although an extensive granulomatous mycobacterial enteritis, lymphadenitis and lymphangitis were observed containing large numbers of typical acid-fast organisms. No clinical illness was observed in the second inoculated sheep after 18 months of observation, although infection was demonstrated at necropsy. Both sheep developed AGID and LST reactions indicative of paratuberculosis. This study demonstrated that a difficult to culture isolate of M. paratuberculosiswas responsible for paratuberculosis in captive wild ruminants and was…
Saigas were shown to be phylogenetically far closer to gazelles than black-tailed gazelles and pygmy antelopes. In general, the genetic analysis data are in agreement with the results of morphological studies.
The overarching aims of the project were to estimate
population size of saiga antelope with associated confidence
intervals across its entire range in western Mongolia, and to
conduct spatial modelling on the survey data to assess the human
and environmental factors influencing the distribution of the
saiga.
Access the report here: Western Mongolian
Population Assessment