Pyrenean Ibex - The animal that went extinct twice.
- bioworld090
- Jul 21, 2022
- 2 min read
Pyrenean Ibex by KKPCW.
Pyrenean ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica), also known as bucardo, herc and boquetin in native languages, was a subspecies of Iberian ibex.
The adult male ibex was a little shorter than 5 feet and weighed around 59 - 68 kg(130-150 lbs). Its horns were big and measured 31 inches in length. Its body was covered with short pale greyish-brown fur with well-defined black patches in summer and with a thicker fur composed of long and short hairs with a colour between grey and buff and not so well-defined patches in winter. The female ibex was short and had a consistent brown coloured fur similar to a deer. Its horns were very short and cylindrical and lacked ridges.
The bucardo used to move towards the higher regions of the mountains in summers and in the snow-free field during winters to graze on herbs, grasses and lichen.
The Pyrenean ibex was once found in most parts of the Iberian Peninsula but its population began to go downhill in the 17th century and things got worse from the beginning of the 20th century as its population never rose above 40 since then. The last known representative of this subspecies, named Celia, was found dead under a fallen tree in 2000. The exact cause of the extinction is unknown but scientists suggest trophy hunting, diseases and its inability to compete with other ungulates.
Later, scientists decided to bring back the Pyrenean ibex by cloning for which they used cells collected from the ear of Celia. Domestic goats were used as surrogate mothers. Celia's clone was created successfully. However, the ibex that was born died just minutes after due to lung defects and the subspecies were gone forever once again. This is how the Pyrenean ibex became the only animal that went extinct twice.
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