| Saiga antelop (Saiga tatarica), an endangered animal in the world, has been extinct in China since1950s in the last century. Saiga antelope is the protection of animals at the national level. IUCN definite that it is Critical Endangered. Saiga antelope had widely distributed in Eurasia and China is the historical distribution area of them. Because of the climate change, habitat destruction, poaching, the number of Saiga antelope was decreased rapidly couple years ago. Atpresent, only three population distribution in Kazakhstan and the the Republic of Mongolia.For Saiga antelope Population restoration Gansu Endangered Animal Protection Center ofNational Forestry Bureau introduced several adults from Russia to artificial feed since1988s.Until now the individual number of the population already reach to110. Dongshawo region was historical distribution area of Saiga antelop. The purpose of introduction and domestication ofSaiga antelope is make conditions to release them into the wild to achieve the aim of biodiversity protection and ecological restoration.The potential habitat evaluation of Saiga antelop which based on the behavior observationof Semi-free Saiga antelop and the date analysis of vegetation and terrain of study area will provide scientific basis for its reintroduction. The results showed that in the absence of human activities, the area of highly suitable and suitable habitats were30.87km~2and23.25km~2. Accounting for31.076%and23.404%of total area investigated, respectively. In the presence of impacts of human activities, highly suitable and suitable habitat decreased by4.903%and3.268%respectively. Which showed that the effect extent of human activities was small, Dongshawo region is suitable potential habitat for saiga antelop. For further improve survival rate of reintroduction of Saiga antelop, we suggest establishing a habitat corridor, strengthening habitat rehabilitation and protection, increasing water and feedstuff supplement in breeding season and winter. |
PDF Full Text Request