Bluebuck
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| Bluebuck Facts Conservation status: Extinct (ca.1800) | ||||||||||||||||
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| Hippotragus leucophaeus Pallas, 1766 |
The bluebuck or blue antelope (Hippotragus leucophaeus) is an extinct species of antelope, the first large African mammal to disappear in historic times, related to the roan antelope and sable antelope, but slightly smaller than both. It lived in the southwestern coastal region of South Africa, but was more widespread during the last Ice Age. It was probably a selective feeder, preferring high-quality grasses.
Europeans encountered the bluebuck in the seventeenth century, but it was already uncommon by then. It may have been affected by competition from domestic sheep, which reached South Africa around AD 400, after being traded with tribes from the north. European settlers hunted it avidly, despite its flesh being distasteful, while converting its habitat to agriculture. The bluebuck became extinct around 1800. There are only four mounted specimens – in museums in Vienna, Stockholm, Paris, and Leiden – along with some bones and horns elsewhere. None of the museum specimens show a blue colour, which may have derived from a mixture of black and yellow hairs.