Cambridge 21 Test 3

population, with Russia, Mongolia and Uzbekistan accounting for the rest. The saiga is perfectly adapted to the tough conditions of the remote wilderness of the steppes of Central Asia. One such adaptation is its bizarre bulbous nose, which enables the animal to survive the extreme seasonal temperature swings of the region. The swollen nostrils of the nose serve several purposes: they filter out dust and cool the blood during hot, dry summers, and they warm the cold air before it enters the saiga's lungs in winter. Other seasonal adaptations include a heavy winter coat that the saiga sheds when the weather warms up. Despite these superb adaptations to harsh conditions, the saiga has no defence against the threats posed by humans. It was almost driven to extinction by hunters in the 19th century. Legal protection ensured its survival for a while, and numbers steadily recovered throughout most of the 20th century. But the respite was only temporary. In the ten years following the break-up of the former Soviet Union in 1991, over 95% of the global population was lost - one of the fastest examples of species loss ever recorded for a mammal.