Saiga Antelopes Face Extinction as Male Poaching Disrupts Herd Gender Balance

Native to the grasslands of Eurasia, the saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) teeters on the brink of extinction, its population devastated by a critical gender imbalance—driven by decades of rampant poaching of adult males. Once numbering in the millions, these iconic ungulates now struggle to reproduce as male herds are decimated, leaving female-dominated populations unable to sustain genetic diversity.