Saiga antelope

This sweet-faced dweller of the steppes of the former Soviet Union has somehow miraculously managed to survive two massive die-offs over the past 30 years that caused its population to plummet from over a million to fewer than 50,000.

Conservationists managed to halt the rampant hunting of this small ungulate, although it is still susceptible to disease and habitat loss. But, ‘The crucial point about any conservation project is that you never stop. You never give up,’ Richard Young.