Conservation Reproductive collapse in saiga antelope harems

A common assumption is that breeding in polygnous systems is not limited by the number of males because one male can inseminate many females. But here we show that reproductive collapse in the critically endangered saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica tatarica) is likely to have been caused by a catastrop...

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Published inNature (London) Vol. 422; no. 6928; p. 135
Main Authors Milner-Gulland, E. J, Bukreeva, O. M, Coulson, T, Lushchekina, A. A, Kholodova, M. V, Bekenov, A. B, Grachev, I. A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Nature Publishing Group 13.03.2003
Subjects
Animals
Antelopes - physiology
Asia, Central
Conservation of Natural Resources
Ecosystem
Female
Fertility - physiology
Male
Medicine, Chinese Traditional
Population Dynamics
Pregnancy
Reproduction - physiology
Sex Ratio
Asia, Central
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Summary:A common assumption is that breeding in polygnous systems is not limited by the number of males because one male can inseminate many females. But here we show that reproductive collapse in the critically endangered saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica tatarica) is likely to have been caused by a catastrophic drop in the number of adult males in this harem-breeding ungulate, probably due to selective poaching for their horns. Fecundity and calf survival are known to be affected by markedly skewed sex ratios, but in the saiga antelope the sex ratio has become so distorted as to lead to a drastic decline in the number of pregnancies - a finding that has implications both for the conservation of the species and for understanding the reproductive ecology of polygynous ungulates.
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ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/422135a