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Pathological findings in the mass mortality event of saiga antelope, May 2015

Publisher
Environmental Information Data Centre
Updated
30 July 2026
Topic
Not set
Licence
Not set

Summary

Field-pathological findings of 33 saiga antelope carcasses (adults and new-born) found in two sites (Tengiz and Turgai, Kazakhstan) during a mass die-off event in May 2015. In Kazakhstan May 2015, approximately 200,000 saiga antelopes died within a month-period causing a loss of two-thirds of the global population. The dramatic event occurred during calving season when females and young males stop migrating and form massive aggregations for calving purposes. With 100% morbidity and 100% mortality of affected herds observed, the 2015 die-off left the largest saiga population, Betpak-Dala, with approximately 30,000 survivors based on post mortality census, highlighting the imminent extinction threats to this critically endangered species. The lack of pathological investigations during historical mass mortality events has limited our understanding of disease-related mortalities in saiga antelope. Generally, aetiological agents were isolated from dead saiga, but the disease course and a full necropsy were not performed nor present in the records. However, for the first time, a full pathology report was possible during 2015. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/30cbfba7-f9a1-47d5-abdb-f2741041e487

Data links

Link Format Preview Updated
Supporting information ZIP 30/7/2026
Download the data 30/7/2026

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Additional information

Source Metadata
XML, HTML
Date added
24 July 2026
Harvest GUID
30cbfba7-f9a1-47d5-abdb-f2741041e487
Extent (Latitude)
51.8° to 49.74°
Extent (Longitude)
65.45° to 67.49°
Dataset reference date (publication)
2018-09-10
Dataset reference date (creation)
2018-06-05
Access constraints
If you reuse this data, you should cite: Sánchez-Monge, F., Kock, R.A. (2018). Pathological findings in the mass mortality event of saiga antelope, May 2015. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre https://doi.org/10.5285/30cbfba7-f9a1-47d5-abdb-f2741041e487
Responsible party
Unaffiliated (author); (author, pointOfContact, publisher, custodian)
ISO 19139 resource type
dataset
Metadata language
eng