Bluebock

This article deals with the bluebuck antelope. The beetle of the same name see under Blaubock (beetle)

Bluebock
Stuffed copy in the Natural History Museum Vienna
Systematics
without rank: Forehead weapon bearer (Pecora) Family : Horned Bearers (Bovidae) Subfamily : Antilopinae Tribe : Horse rams (Hippotragini) Genre : Horse antelopes ( Hippotragus ) Type : Bluebock
Scientific name
Hippotragus leucophaeus
( Pallas , 1766)

The blue goat ( Hippotragus leucophaeus ) was an African antelope from the group of horse goats . Once at home in South Africa, it is now extinct. This animal was named after the bluish shimmer of its gray fur. In appearance, the bluebuck resembled the roan antelope , but was built more gracefully. He also lacked the color markings on his head that are characteristic of the roan antelope.

South Africa (former distribution area of ​​the blue buck)

The distribution area was limited to the coastal region of southwestern South Africa. There are also no fossil finds that suggest a greater, earlier distribution. As early as the 18th century, white settlers landed in the area of ​​distribution of the bluebock, who exterminated the species with pleasure hunts within a few years. Due to overgrazing of its habitat, however, the blue goats had shrunk more and more even before the arrival of the first Europeans.

The last bluebock was shot in 1799 or 1800, just 34 years after the first scientific description. As far as we know today, the blue goat is the first African mammal species to be exterminated by modern humans in historical times. Since the extermination of the bluebock happened very quickly, there are only a few museum specimens. Today there are four stuffed specimens in the natural history museums of Stockholm , Paris , Vienna and Leiden .

The bluebock is occasionally listed as a subspecies of the roan antelope . Mostly it is listed as a separate species. Misleadingly, the Nilgau antelope is also listed as a bluebuck in English .

literature

• CA Spinage: The Natural History of Antelopes . Croom Helm, London 1986, ISBN 0-7099-4441-1

Web links

Commons : Hippotragus leucophaeus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Hippotragus leucophaeus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Antelope Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved on 6 May, 2006.

Single receipts

1. ↑ Spigane, p 183