Saiga antelope

Saiga antelope - Saiga tatarica - ARKive

When we were in Karaganda Bobi and I visited the regional museum. Inside we found several interesting exhibits, on subjects ranging from the Karaganda Gulag[1] to the Golden Warrior [2] to -- well, we couldn't figure out what this thing was.



It looked kind of like a cross between a reindeer and a moose -- or maybe a reindeer and Zoidberg.

After a couple of days of sporadic googling we learned it was a steppe antelope.

[1] The web has some indirect references, e.g. Welcome to Ukraine:

Karaganda is the centre of Kazakhstan’s coal production, but in the soviet times it was the hub of Gulag concentration camps.

[2] See also Talgar Mountain Peak:

In 1969 - 1970 while the archaeological excavations in [Issyk] hill a grave of the so-called "Golden man" was found. It was a mummy of the young warrior. All his clothes was decorated with gold. Nowadays the image of the "Golden man" is one of the symbols of Kazakhstan.