The Antelope Killing Fields - Issue 56: Perspective
▻http://nautil.us/issue/56/perspective/the-antelope-killing-fields
Dead animals were scattered across the steppe in front of us. Up to the horizon. Thousands of them. That was the moment we understood that we were observing a mass mortality of catastrophic dimensions. We were in Kazakhstan that day in May of 2015 to study the saiga antelope, a remarkable herd animal that grazes in semideserts, steppe, and grasslands, and has evolved to run long distances at high speeds. Our team was a part of the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, which conducts annual observations of the endangered animal’s calving season. We had noticed a few animal carcasses, but the situation didn’t seem exceptional. The area’s saiga, after all, were known to have experienced mass die-offs in the past. But every day, more and more animals died. And then, suddenly, in just two days, (...)