In Kazakhstan , a critically threaten species of antelope is marching towards extinction with preternatural geometrical regularity — and some mass opine a ballistic capsule may be involved .
The first dice - off fall out in May 2010 , when at least 12,000 of the region ’s uncommon saiga antelopes ( Saiga tatarica)succumbed to what the Kazach government find out was a lung infection called pasteurellosis . Exactly one year later , a 2d round of death occurred , and pasteurellosis was again fingered as the culprit . Now , for the third twelvemonth running , dead Saiga tatarica are turn up like clockwork by the C .
The Kazach government has once again blamed the death on pasteurellosis , but SciAm ’s John R. Platt , who has been covering the secret saiga die - offs from the start , sound out there are some who reckon the cause of this most late culling may have come from place — low Earth orbit , to be exact :
… Some ecologist in Kazakhstan and Russia are instead blaming the fatalities on the April landing place of a Soyuz capsule from the International Space Station . At least 120 idle saigas were found near the village of Sorsha , where the Soyuz land last month . Others see a possible link to the Baikonur Cosmodrome launching site in cardinal Kazakhstan . “ It could be from chemical elements leave from space rockets that aviate over this place , ” ecologist Musagali Duambekov , leader of the For a Green Planet political drive , severalize Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty ( RFE / RL ) .
Other potential cause include the overuse of immune - system sapping fertilizers , consumption of hemorrhagic septicemia - contaminated vegetation by the afflicted antelope , or some combination thereof .
Read more at SciAm .
BiologyconservationEcologyRussiaScienceSpace
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