In December, the relict antelope goes through its rut (breeding period). Now in the reproduction zone, which occupies more than 54 thousand hectares of the territory of the Stepnoy nature reserve in the Limansky district, male saiga antelopes are actively forming harems, reports the environmental management service of the Astrakhan region.
Last week, the reserve was visited by Vyacheslav Rozhnov, academician, scientific director of environmental and environmental projects and international programs of the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
For several years, employees of the institute, under his leadership, have been studying the behavioral ecology of saigas in the reserve. In their research, scientists use remote monitoring data.
Vyacheslav Rozhnov assessed the conditions of the rutting season positively and noted that thanks to the efforts of the reserve management team, restoration of the saiga population of the North-Western Caspian region has began.
The number of artiodactyls in Stepnoye has grown from a minimum of 2.5 thousand to 20 thousand individuals. The total population size is estimated at 26 thousand individuals.
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