阅读理解

　　Male saiga antelopes(高鼻羚羊)face a serious problem that threatens to push them over the brink(边缘)of extinction(灭绝)：so many females, so few males．

　　The population of this antelope over the world, native to the steppes(大草原)and deserts of Central Asia and the Pre-Caspian region of Europe, has fallen by 80 percent to about 50 000．In the mid-1970s, the peak population was more than 1 250 000．Of the saiga antelopes that remain, most are female．

　　The males simply cannot mate with enough females to maintain the population, said Eleanor Milner Gulland, a conservation scientist at Imperial College London in England．

　　The primacy reason for the collapse is over-hunting by rural communities that were economically destroyed following the breakup of the Soviet Union．Rural farmers hunt both sexes of the three feet tall antelopes to feed their families．

　　The animals have long noses and short, pointed antlers．Groups of poachers(非法捕杀者)zip around the countryside on motorcycles shooting the males for their horns, which sell for as much as US＄100 in China where they are used to treat heart disease, fever, stroke and other conditions．

　　In 2002, the saiga antelope was listed as Critically Endangered by The World Conservation Union and listed on Appendix Ⅱ of the Convention of Migratory Species．Conservationists argue that unless national anti-poaching laws are enforced, the species may be extinct within the next few years．

　　“The answer lies in making sure that the people living closest to the saiga can recognize the need for their long-term protection, ”said Abigail Entwistle, a zoologist with Fauna & Flora International, a conservation organization in Cambridge, England．