The Saiga Antelope in Britain

Toxoplasmosis in nilgais (Boselaphus tragocamelus) and a saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica).

Three captive female nilgais (Boselaphus tragocamelus) either showed late-term abortion or their newborn calves died within 2 days of birth. Toxoplasma gondii DNA was demonstrated in the brain and liver of each fetus and in one of the two neonates by single-stage polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with TGR1E and by seminested PCR with B1 gene. Retrospectively, antibodies titers > or =640 to T. gon...

Calving location selection patterns of saiga antelope in Mongolia

The 'big spenders' of the steppe: sex-specific maternal allocation and twinning in the saiga antelope.

In polygynous mammals, males generally benefit more from extra allocation of maternal resources than females. However, limitations to sex-specific allocation are usually ignored. We propose the 'allocation constraint' hypothesis, whereby maternal resource allocation is more likely to follow life-history predictions in single sex litters than in mixed sex litters, due to limitations in prenatal ...

Changes in grouping patterns of saiga antelope in relationto intrinsic and environmental factors in Mongolia

1 Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA 2 Mongolia Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 3 Mongolia Program Office, World Wide Fund for Nature, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 4 USDA-WS-National Wildlife Research Center and the Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA 5 Organismal Biology and Ecology,...

Identification of ungulates used in a traditional Chinese medicine with DNA barcoding technology

Horns of Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) have always been an ingredient of "Lingyangjiao", a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Persistent hunting for Saiga antelope has already threatened the survival of critical endangered populations in wild. To control the growing pressure, CITES and Chinese government have legislated for monitoring the trade of Saiga horns. However, similar ungulate horns...