For World's Oddest-Looking Antelope, Signs of a Comeback
Thanks to conservation, the saiga antelope returns to Kazakhstan's steppes.
With its tubular, bulbous nose, it may look like a character from a Dr. Seuss book or the bar scene in Star Wars.
But don't be fooled by its droll appearance: The saiga antelope is one of the animal world's great survivors. (See video: "Ice Age Antelope Under Threat.")
Despite their awkward running gait, head down, stubby legs on either side driving in tandem, they can clock 50 miles an hour (80 kilometers an hour) on their long migrations.
Saiga date back to the Ice Age—and they were once as prolific in Central Asia as bison were on the plains of North America. More than two million roamed the Eurasian steppes as recently as last century.
But following the breakup of the Soviet
