Saiga guy reporting

Hi,

To begin with, I am not a zoo professional, I have a completely different background... which has its advantages and disadvantages. I am an absolute specialist in one species: the saiga antelope. After coming accross the species by chance - under regrettable circumstances -, and then a lot of research, I ended up writing a comparative study on the captive management of the saiga antelope in 2017, available on the Saiga Resource Centre website.

I was in touch with loads of people from the US, Europe, and Central Asia during my research, some of whom may even be here, reading this. I will be forever grateful to you, and will never forget your support. Hope we can meet (again) one day.

I only joined because I saw a few recent questions/posts on the saiga antelope, and decided to respond. There are zoo professionals out there with considerable knowledge on the species, who may add further information.

The saiga is a species that actually does not do well in typical zoo setups, but who knows... maybe there are people here who would have questions, or would like to contribute to saiga conservation.
Get in touch if you do.

Cheers
Greg

 

Welcome to ZooChat! You've joined for the Saiga, but hopefully you stay for the forum!

 

A lot of people here are interested in rare animals like the saiga. I was fortunate to have seen them years ago at both San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park (now Safari Park).

 

Welcome to ZooChat!

 

Welcome to Zoochat! Yeah, we all are interested in saiga.

 

Welcome!

 

I went to see the saiga at Askania Nova with a group including a guy from San Diego Zoo... And I know another one there who deals with the species (mainly outreach in range states). San Diego is one of the few zoos worldwide that had considerable experience with the species.

 

Welcome, Greg! I've enjoyed your posts so far, it's nice to hear more about the species from someone who has spent a lot of time understanding them. I've done the "adoption" through the Saiga Conservation Alliance before

 

Welcome to ZooChat!

 

Hi All, nice to be here. As I was saying I mainly deal with saiga, that's the species I know most about. It is such a unique species that there is - to my knowledge - only one other ungulate that poses similar challenges in captivity: the pronghom. The two species fill similar ecological niches in their respective ecosystems, but are not related. The closest (extant) relative of the saiga is the Tibetan antelope. Coincidentally, that is a species even rarer in captivity (and potentially more difficult) than the saiga. So what I know about the saiga in captivity is only transferrable to other species to a limited extent. I went into a lot of detail in my research, and when I wanted to contact someone knowledgeable on ungulate enclosure design, I had to find that there isn't anyone who could give me any specific help concerning saiga. After a long history of saiga in zoos (that ended in 2009), there is no consensus on the safest, most effective enclosure design, despite the fact that a huge majority of losses in zoos were due to trauma, i.e. saiga colliding with fences and other structures (even in Cologne, where they had a pretty inventive fence design). It is probable that you simply cannot stop saiga from running (or jumping) into fences. I do highlight a few ideas in my paper (available on the Saiga Resource Centre). So... enclosure design would be a main interest for me. The very best solution of course would be to have semi-wild populations in several locations in the range states and ex-situ, even in the EU or the US, and perhaps a smaller number of animals in zoos, if there are any zoos - at least 3 or 4 - at all who would be willing to take on such a challenging species and start a joint breeding programme with a decent number of unrelated founders. Provided they can get the animals to start such a programme...

 

Welcome to Zoochat! Saiga re fascinating species, and I can’t wait to hear more about them!

 

Truly a weird creature, so glad I saw one a long time ago at Highland Wildlife Park. Sadly I did not see Tibetan Antelope when I visited Xinghai.

 

Highland Wildlife Park still has some expertise on saiga, but it's a good thing they stopped keeping the species a long time ago. Saigas didn't do well there at all. I have never seen a saiga in a zoo. I did go to Köln Zoo to speak to the keepers who worked with them, and saw the old signages that they kept, and went into the enclosure after hours. It changed very little since the last saiga (they have goitered gazelles there now).
If you really want to appreciate saiga, and see them in a natural steppe environment, you should go to Askania Nova (I have been there, and speak from experience). It is also possible to go on tours in the range states of course.
The Tibetan antelopes are rare and migratory, and also poached, which I guess makes them weary of humans. If you did not look for them specifically, your chances of seeing them were probably slim. I am not aware of any captive breeding efforts in US and European zoos for the Tibetan antelope. My guess would be that they would not do well in zoos.

 

What???

 

That goitered gazelles are not in Köln anymore

 

Zootierliste says so, but it's not always accurate. Alex Sliwa can tell. Or ZIMS.

 

I will ask my contacts at Köln Zoo what became of the enclosure. It was specifically designed for sensitive ungulates, and was actually one of the best designs I have seen and heard of. E.g. the stalls are circular, the fence is flexible and the posts out outside the enclosure, there is a visual barrier, the substrate is hard and dry... But I am also aware that the gazelles were tricky to keep there.