The Animal You’ve Probably Never Seen, And May Never Get To.

It looks like something from a Sci-Fi movie. With a bulbous, drooping nose adapted to filter dust during long migrations; this strange antelope once roamed alongside mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses.

It survived climate shifts, predators and human expansion. Yet today, its greatest threat may not be ice, predators or time, but policy.

One success story, many different realities for saiga antelope

At the recent CITES COP20 – the global meeting that regulates international wildlife trade – the majority voted to reopen international commercial trade in saiga horn. The recovery of a single population influenced this decision. On paper, it is a success story. In reality, this decision may place vulnerable subpopulations at risk.

Kazakhstan’s saiga population rebounded from 40 000 in 2005 to 4.1 million animals today. This recovery shaped the decision to allow up to 10 000 kilograms of horn to be traded annually over three years, equivalent to roughly 25 000 male saiga per year.

But not all saiga populations are equal.

Smaller subpopulations in places like Mongolia remain fragile and isolated, highlighting a vulnerability. Numbers were as low as 405 in 2021. While the latest numbers released in January 2025 showed 23 215 animals, up from 15 540 the previous year, the population remains highly susceptible to extreme weather events and disease outbreaks.

A saiga antelope at the Stepnoi Sanctuary in Russia.

When a policy change sends the wrong message

For conservationists, the fear is what reopening trade might set in motion. Although the quota applies only to horn sourced from Kazakhstan’s population, consumer interest could fuel illegal trafficking elsewhere.

“Mongolia’s saiga is a unique and irreplaceable subpopulation found nowhere else. Although numbers have grown, it remains extremely vulnerable. Without proper preparedness and strong safeguards in place, any renewed demand for saiga horn risks undermining decades of conservation progress in Mongolia,” explains Dr Buuveibaatar Bayarbaatar, senior scientist with Wildlife Conservation Society Mongolia.

One species, very different futures

Kazakhstan’s success cannot count for an entire species. Unless global policy reflects the differences between saiga populations, this ancient antelope may remain an animal most people never see, not because it is elusive, but because its most vulnerable groups were lost while attention focused elsewhere.

The strange-looking saiga antelope. Horn trade from the Kazakhstan population is allowed. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

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