Resembling a character from a Dr. Seuss book, the saiga antelope has evolved to be perfectly adapted to its life in the steppe and semi-desert of Central Asia and Russia. The saiga’s range includes some of the harshest landscape in the world. It migrates large distances between summer and winter pastures, travelling in herds that can number in the thousands. It is a relic of Ice Age fauna that included mammoths and saber-tooth cats. Herds of saiga once numbered in the millions, but today only 40,000 survive. In the past ten years, saiga numbers have declined by 96%, the fastest decline ever recorded for a mammal species.

The Saiga Conservation Alliance (SCA) is a group of scientists and conservationists working in countries throughout the saiga's range to bring the plight of the saiga antelope to the world's attention. In cooperation with local communities and governments, SCA is creating a new understanding of the saiga's role in the environment and finding solutions to secure its future.