crosspost from /intl/ to stimulate this board
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32958032
>Around half of the world's critically endangered Saiga antelope have died suddenly in Kazakhstan since 10 May.
>An unknown environmental trigger is thought to have caused two types of normally benign bacteria found in the antelopes' gut to turn deadly.
>The animals die within hours of showing symptoms, which include depression, diarrhoea and frothing at the mouth.
>About 120,000 individual antelope have died, from a global population of approximately 250,000. Fortunately, mortality rates are now dropping, although the deaths continue in some populations.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/27/us-kazakhstan-antelope-idUSKBN0OC1XL20150527
>"We believe the cause of the deaths is pasteurellosis," Yerzhan Madiyev, deputy head of the ministry's veterinary committee, told a news conference.
>Pasteurellosis is a bacterial disease that can infect humans and cattle, rabbits, cats and dogs. Its bacteria occur naturally in the upper respiratory tract, but can be harmful when the immune system is compromised.
http://informburo.kz/novosti/svoyu-versiyu-gibeli-saygakov-vydvinul-doktor-bionauk-rossii-i-kazahstana-5079.html (russian source, citation is from wikipedia because I'm too lazy to translate it myself)
>Biologist Murat Nurushev suggested that the cause might be acute ruminal tympany, whose symptoms (bloating, mouth foaming and diarrhea) had been observed in dead saiga antelopes.[19] According to Nurushev, this disease occurred as a result of foraging on a large amount of easily fermenting plants (alfalfa, clover, sainfoins and mixed wet green grass).[19]
however one thing is mentioned nowhere else
>Среди погибших сайгаков практически не было самцов (за исключением 1-2 особей).
almost no males died from it
http://io9.com/over-120-000-saiga-antelopes-have-inexplicably-died-sin-1708176299
>It is not the first time the species has experienced a mass die-off. In 1984, an event killed about 100,000 individuals. Another 12,000 dropped dead in 2010.
>Not a single animal survived in the affected herds.
to explain the statement about no males dying despite entire herds being wiped out, from Wikipedia
>The mating season starts in November, when stags fight for the possession of females. The winner leads a herd of five to 50 females. In springtime, the mothers give birth to two (in two thirds of all cases) or one single foal.