The Ice Age antelope with a bizarre alien trunk-nose
This endangered antelope has a bizarre, trunk-like nose that looks completely alien.
Which one is REALLY true about the Saiga Antelope?
The short version
The saiga antelope is an Ice Age relic that once roamed with woolly mammoths. Its huge droopy trunk-like nose warms freezing winter air before it hits the lungs and filters summer dust as the herds run. Saigas sprint up to 80 km/h but are now critically endangered after mass die-offs.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Saiga Antelope is an Ice Age relic that once shared the plains with woolly mammoths.
- ✓The Saiga Antelope has a huge, droopy, trunk-like nose that hangs down over its mouth.
- ✓The Saiga Antelope uses its strange nose to warm up icy winter air before it reaches the lungs.
- ✓The Saiga Antelope filters swirling dust out of the air with that nose as the herds run in summer.
- ✓The Saiga Antelope can sprint up to eighty kilometers an hour to escape wolves, but is now critically endangered.
You could line up about 2 of them along a 7-year-old!
The full story
This animal looks like it walked straight out of the Ice Age, and in a way, it did. Meet the saiga antelope, a strange, ancient creature that once shared the plains with woolly mammoths. Its most bizarre feature is that huge, droopy, trunk-like nose, which hangs down over its mouth like a soft, flexible snout. That weird nose is actually a survival tool. In the freezing winters of the Central Asian steppe, it warms up icy air before it reaches the lungs. And in the hot, dusty summers, it filters out swirling dust as the herds run across the open plains. Saigas can sprint up to eighty kilometers an hour to escape wolves. Sadly, they are now critically endangered, with sudden die-offs wiping out entire herds. A living Ice Age relic with the face of an alien. Follow for more weird animal facts.
Inside the saiga's big droopy nose are twisty bones lined with slimy skin, hairs, and blood-filled tissue, which give incoming air a huge warm, wet surface to flow across. In freezing winter, that warm lining passes body heat into the icy air, so it is already warmed up before it reaches the lungs. In dusty summer, swirling grit sticks to the wet mucus and hairs and gets trapped, like a filter, so it does not get breathed in deep.
📚 Source: Saiga | San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants ↗In 2004, scientists described large internal chambers inside the saiga's nose that help filter dust from the air before it reaches the lungs.
📚 Source: This Odd-Nosed Antelope Is Experiencing a Mass Die-Off | National Geographic ↗Watch the 45-second version
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“The Saiga Antelope is an Ice Age relic that once shared the plains with woolly mammoths.”
“The Saiga Antelope lives crammed inside empty shells, burrows, and even discarded bottles along the Pacific coast.”
“The Saiga Antelope has a huge, droopy, trunk-like nose that hangs down over its mouth.”