Bluebuck
Encyclopedia
The Bluebuck or Blue Antelope (Hippotragus leucophaeus), sometimes called Blaubok, is an extinct species of antelope
, the first large African mammal
to disappear in historic times. It is related to the Roan Antelope
and Sable Antelope
, but slightly smaller than either. It lived in the southwestern coastal region of South Africa
savannahs, but was more widespread during the last glacial. It was probably a selective feeder, preferring high-quality grass
es.
Europeans encountered the Bluebuck in the 17th century, but it was already uncommon by then. 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.
Shoulder height: 100–120 cm (3.3–3.9 ft)
Skull length: 396 mm (15.6 in)
Horn length: 50–61 cm (19.7–24 in)
Body mass: 160 kg (352.7 lb)
Eighteenth century travellers provided contradictory descriptions of this species, perhaps because some were embellishing, while others had not actually seen it and were simply repeating hearsay - Peter Kolb in 1719 incorrectly described it as having a long goat
-like beard and tail, straight horns like an oryx
, and short ears. They did send some skulls and skins back to Europe. In 1967, Erna Mohr reported that the four existing mounted blue antelopes vary from 102 to 116 cm (3.3 to 3.8 ft) at the shoulder. Adult Bluebuck probably rarely exceeded 160 kg (352.7 lb). None of the four museum specimens show any sheen of blue. The dark skin showing through the thinning fur of older animals may have caused the blue colours described by several authors or the mix of black and yellow hairs.
Like most antelopes, the Bluebuck had six teeth along the cheek in each half of the upper and lower jaws. These formed two distinct series three premolars immediately followed by three molars. Its remains can be distinguished from those of the roan by smaller molars and premolars, and from the sable by larger premolars, and a higher ratio of premolar row length to molar row length.
The Bluebuck was a large, horse-like antelope, as heavy as a Javan or English horse
, but smaller than the roan
or sable
. The proportions of its body were similar to that of the southern reedbuck
.
It had a relatively long, strong neck with a very short, underdeveloped mane, long white legs with dark bands on the anterior, and a long tail, up to the hock, with a dark, horse-like whisk. It had a long muzzle. Its ears were long and donkey
-like, rufous and narrow-pointed, without the black tufts of hair found in the roan.
The long, scimitar-shaped horns inserted directly above the orbits, extending upwards at almost right angles to the skull , and then curving back gently, without any torsion, towards the shoulders. These horns were heavily ridged, with 20-35 rings up to the tip of the horn, comparable to the roan (20-50 rings). Its horns were however more lightly built than those of the roan and sable, and slightly transversely compressed to the inside. The back-curved horns reminded Jan van Riebeeck
of the European ibex, and he called it the 'steinbok'. It remains uncertain how long this name was used, or when it was changed to 'blaauwbok' or Bluebuck.
Its hair was short and glossy, and of a delicate light blue to grey - which quickly faded to a bluish grey after death. Its belly was pale white, and didn't actually contrast with the colour of the flanks. Its forehead and the upper muzzle was brown, becoming lighter towards the cheeks and upper lips. It had distinct white patches in front of the eyes not reaching the white muzzle.
The bulls resembled the cows up to the age of three years, after which they became paler (almost white) and developed large, more curved horns; the horns of the cows where more or less of the same length, although thinner and 10-20% smaller. The calves younger than 2 months were light tan, with no or very indistinct markings.
in the 17th and 18th century, they found the Bluebuck on the coastal plains of the southwestern Cape Province, east of the Hottentots Holland mountains. It was never very common, and was probably restricted to a grassland area of less than 4 000 km2 in the triangle formed by the towns of Caledon
, Swellendam
and Bredasdorp
, South Africa. Lieutenant W.J. St. John also recorded 'roans' of a bluish grey colour at Liebenbergsvlei (28º15’S, 28º29’E) near Bethlehem
in the Free State
Province on 28–29 July 1853, and it is now thought that he actually saw the last remnants of a relict
population of Bluebuck.
From archaeological and palaeontological evidence it is known that the Bluebuck had a wider distribution, and was more common, during the early Holocene
Epoch 10,000 years ago. At one time it could be found on the coastal plain of the Cape Province from Elands Bay
in the northwest to Uniondale in the east. Researchers of the National Museum
in Bloemfontein
have found San
(Bushman) rock paintings near Ficksburg
and Golden Gate Highlands National Park
, while Pleistocene
deposits (100 000 to 10 000 years ago) confirm its existence at Rose Cottage cave near Ladybrand
.
with extensive marshes and open areas with medium to long (0,5-1,5 m), perennial tuft grass and little hillside scrub. It was also at home at higher elevations, up to 2 400 m above sea-level. It was susceptible to droughts, and water was a necessary habitat requirement.
They avoided areas with short grass and woodland where trees formed a thick canopy or thickets. Habitat change, due to overgrazing
of grassland by other species, like sheep, thus threatened this species.
The Bluebuck was a selective grazer of medium to long (0.5-1.5 m), perennial tuft grasses, like high-quality red grass (Themeda triandra), spear grass (Heteropogon contortus), buffalo grass (Panicum spp.) and love grass (Eragrostis spp.). Unlike most other antelope, it was not particularly attracted to fresh grass, except during the dry season, when it would graze for short periods along drainage-lines and on floodplains on the fresh growth following the yearly fires. However, like most grazers, it would probably browse during the dry season.
Most of its activities took place during the day, especially early in the morning and late in the afternoon.
Bluebucks followed the conventional territorial system among the Hippotragini or 'horse antelopes': territorial bulls, herds of cows and calves, and bachelor herds which were kept segregate by the territorial bulls.
Bluebuck cows and calves lived in small to medium-sized herds of 5 to 20 individuals, although herds of 35 to 80 was not unusual. They normally occurred at a low density of about 4/km2. Cows shared a traditional home range, which included the territories of several bulls and occupied it for up to 30 years. At very low densities in substandard habitat the cows ranged across larger areas, and were accompanied by the same bull, which in the absence of resistance by territorial neighbours, defended a movable space around his own private harem
.
Because they were equipped with long, dangerous horns, cows tended to be more aggressive than those antelope whose females are hornless. Dominance
hierarchies based on age and individual prowess were vigorously maintained by both sexes. Maternal herds, composed of animals that shared the same home range, were closed to outsiders. Herd members kept out of range of each other's horns, by increasing the individual space between them.
Herd composition changed daily and seasonally; members split into small groups during the rainy season, and concentrated into larger groups on the best available grazing near water during the dry season. The most cohesive groups were maintained by calves of different ages, which clustered around the youngest calf and usually lagged behind the herd.
Bulls were accepted in the natal herd up to the age of 15–18 months, which was unusually long. Until then, their similarity to cows suppressed the aggression
of the territorial bulls. Subadult bulls were driven from the herd, and if these juveniles didn't escape quickly enough, they were killed. They then joined bachelor herds, where they stayed until they reached five or six years of age, when they would be strong enough to defend their own territory.
The adult bull would advertise his presence and high social status by standing or lying alone or away from the herd, at a conspicuous place. The bull stood in an erect manner, which was a sign of high status, and it was self-advertising if it was not directed. When another bull approached his herd, the dominant bull would stand with his neck arched, head high, and ears turned sideways. Unless the intruder showed submission
by lowering his head, the bull kept his ears erect, and waved his tail or tucked it between his legs, and a clash of horns and head-butting would take place. Its sound was a blowing snort.
s (Crocuta crocuta), leopard
s (Panthera pardus) and wild dogs
(Lycaon pictus). The adults were large and formidable, and resistant to predation
in areas with low predator densities. They did sometimes fall prey to lion
s (Panthera leo), but were attacked with caution. Normally they would flee from predators, but when wounded, a bluebuck would lie down, preferably in a marsh, and defended itself with its razor-sharp horns - the angle-horn threat display
indicating that it intended to stab sideways or over its shoulder.
Shortly after the last Ice Age, about 10 000 years ago, the Bluebuck must have been common in the far south of Africa, which was largely covered with grassy plains. Numerous finds of subfossil bones indicate a former distribution area from Elands Bay
in the present Cape Colony
to about 25° E at Uniondale, as well as in the Eastern Free State
. Bluebuck numbers dropped about 3 200-2 000 years ago, due to the change of grassland into bush and forest when the climate became warmer.
They showed a sharp decline around 400 A.D., which coincided with the introduction of livestock, particularly sheep, by man at about that time. Competition
for grazing with sheep, the resulting habitat degradation due to overgrazing
, and diseases may all have contributed to a decline in Bluebuck. Subsistence hunting could also have played a role - it is known that the Late Stone Age
inhabitants of Rose Cottage cave hunted several game species, including Bluebuck. To the San
(Bushman) the Bluebuck was an important animal, since rock art
indicates that these animals contained supernatural power.
Jan van Riebeeck mentioned a "steinbok" or ibex with back-curved horns near Cape Town
, while the German Peter Kolb was the first to write about the existence of a "blaauwbok" or Bluebuck in 1719. The Bluebuck was clearly on its way to extinction when European naturalists and hunters finally discovered it. Its range was already small when Europeans who settled in the Cape Colony
in the 17th and 18th century first saw this antelope. The Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg
noted in 1774 that these animals were becoming rare. European hunters and farmers hunted it mainly for its skin. Its meat was not fatty, and generally fed to the dogs, although it was just as tasty as that of deer
. According to the German zoologist Martin Lichtenstein
, the last Bluebuck in the Cape Province
was killed in 1799/1800 in the Swellendam
district. However, there is good evidence to suggest that an isolated remnant population still existed further north in the 18th century, and that the last Bluebuck died in the Eastern Free State more than fifty years later.
and hunting with firearms quickly destroyed the last small herds. The Bluebuck disappeared before the early natural history cabinets and museums had a chance to obtain a fair number of specimens.
(Sweden), Paris (France) and Vienna
(Austria). Not counting the many bones excavated throughout the species' former range, there are two skulls, in Amsterdam
(the Netherlands) and Glasgow
(United Kingdom), and three pairs of horns, in Uppsala
(Sweden), London (United Kingdom) and Cape Town
(South Africa). None of these specimens are properly documented.
(Hippotragus equinus) and the sable antelope
(Hippotragus niger). Although some naturalists in the past classified the Bluebuck merely as a subspecies
of the roan, it is now generally accepted as a separate species. This is based on the fact that Bluebuck and roan occurred in sympatry
on the coastal plain of the southwestern Cape from Oakhurst to Uniondale
during the early Holocene
.
There were a lot of speculations that the Giant or Giant Sable Antelope
(Hippotragus niger variani) had become extinct. There had been unconfirmed sightings in recent years, but no confirmed sightings for 20 years. This subspecies of the Sable Antelope only occurred in Angola
, and there are no specimens present in zoos.
An expedition headed to Angola on 14 August 2002 to search for the giant sable antelope. The expedition had tried hunting for the antelope by helicopter
, but the animals avoid sound at all costs. Interviews with tribal chiefs revealed that locals often sighted the animals in the Luando reserve, so the expedition changed tactics and carried out ground surveys on foot. They recorded five separate sightings but were not able to take any photographs. These five animals were spotted in Cangandala National Park in Malanje province in north-central Angola by a team led by Professor Wouter van Hoven of the University of Pretoria.
Antelope
Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
, the first large African mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
to disappear in historic times. It is related to the Roan Antelope
Roan Antelope
The Roan Antelope is a savanna antelope found in West, Central, East Africa and Southern Africa.Roan Antelope stand about a metre and half at the shoulder and weigh around 250 kilograms. Named for the "roan' colour , they have a lighter underbelly, white eyebrows and cheeks and a black face,...
and Sable Antelope
Sable Antelope
The Sable Antelope is an antelope which inhabits wooded savannah in East Africa south of Kenya, and in Southern Africa.-Subspecies:There are four subspecies:* H. n. niger which is considered low risk conservation dependent...
, but slightly smaller than either. It lived in the southwestern coastal region of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
savannahs, but was more widespread during the last glacial. It was probably a selective feeder, preferring high-quality grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
es.
Europeans encountered the Bluebuck in the 17th century, but it was already uncommon by then. European settlers hunted it avidly, despite its flesh being distasteful, while converting its habitat to agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
. The Bluebuck became extinct around 1800. There are only four mounted specimens – in museums in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 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.
Characteristics
Total length: 250–300 cm (8.2–9.8 ft) (bull); 230–280 cm (7.5–9.2 ft) (cow)Shoulder height: 100–120 cm (3.3–3.9 ft)
Skull length: 396 mm (15.6 in)
Horn length: 50–61 cm (19.7–24 in)
Body mass: 160 kg (352.7 lb)
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
-like beard and tail, straight horns like an oryx
Oryx
Oryx is one of four large antelope species of the genus Oryx. Three of the species are native to arid parts of Africa, with a fourth native to the Arabian Peninsula. Their pelage is pale with contrasing dark markings in the face and on the legs, and their long horns are almost straight...
, and short ears. They did send some skulls and skins back to Europe. In 1967, Erna Mohr reported that the four existing mounted blue antelopes vary from 102 to 116 cm (3.3 to 3.8 ft) at the shoulder. Adult Bluebuck probably rarely exceeded 160 kg (352.7 lb). None of the four museum specimens show any sheen of blue. The dark skin showing through the thinning fur of older animals may have caused the blue colours described by several authors or the mix of black and yellow hairs.
Like most antelopes, the Bluebuck had six teeth along the cheek in each half of the upper and lower jaws. These formed two distinct series three premolars immediately followed by three molars. Its remains can be distinguished from those of the roan by smaller molars and premolars, and from the sable by larger premolars, and a higher ratio of premolar row length to molar row length.
The Bluebuck was a large, horse-like antelope, as heavy as a Javan or English horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
, but smaller than the roan
Roan
Roan may refer to:*a roan, a valley that curves upward.*Battle of Roan's Tan Yard, an action during the American Civil War*John Roan school, a comprehensive secondary school in Blackheath, South-East London...
or sable
Sable
The sable is a species of marten which inhabits forest environments, primarily in Russia from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, in northern Mongolia and China and on Hokkaidō in Japan. Its range in the wild originally extended through European Russia to Poland and Scandinavia...
. The proportions of its body were similar to that of the southern reedbuck
Southern Reedbuck
The Southern Reedbuck, Rietbok or Common Reedbuck is a diurnal antelope typically found in southern Africa.It was first described by Pieter Boddaert, a Dutch physician and naturalist, in 1785...
.
It had a relatively long, strong neck with a very short, underdeveloped mane, long white legs with dark bands on the anterior, and a long tail, up to the hock, with a dark, horse-like whisk. It had a long muzzle. Its ears were long and donkey
Donkey
The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...
-like, rufous and narrow-pointed, without the black tufts of hair found in the roan.
The long, scimitar-shaped horns inserted directly above the orbits, extending upwards at almost right angles to the skull , and then curving back gently, without any torsion, towards the shoulders. These horns were heavily ridged, with 20-35 rings up to the tip of the horn, comparable to the roan (20-50 rings). Its horns were however more lightly built than those of the roan and sable, and slightly transversely compressed to the inside. The back-curved horns reminded Jan van Riebeeck
Jan van Riebeeck
Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck was a Dutch colonial administrator and founder of Cape Town.-Biography:...
of the European ibex, and he called it the 'steinbok'. It remains uncertain how long this name was used, or when it was changed to 'blaauwbok' or Bluebuck.
Its hair was short and glossy, and of a delicate light blue to grey - which quickly faded to a bluish grey after death. Its belly was pale white, and didn't actually contrast with the colour of the flanks. Its forehead and the upper muzzle was brown, becoming lighter towards the cheeks and upper lips. It had distinct white patches in front of the eyes not reaching the white muzzle.
The bulls resembled the cows up to the age of three years, after which they became paler (almost white) and developed large, more curved horns; the horns of the cows where more or less of the same length, although thinner and 10-20% smaller. The calves younger than 2 months were light tan, with no or very indistinct markings.
Range
When the Europeans settled in the Cape ColonyCape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
in the 17th and 18th century, they found the Bluebuck on the coastal plains of the southwestern Cape Province, east of the Hottentots Holland mountains. It was never very common, and was probably restricted to a grassland area of less than 4 000 km2 in the triangle formed by the towns of Caledon
Caledon, Western Cape
Caledon is a town in the Overberg region in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located about east of Cape Town. it had a population of 10,650. It is located in, and the seat of, the Theewaterskloof Local Municipality....
, Swellendam
Swellendam
Swellendam is the third oldest town in the Republic of South Africa, a town with 28,072 inhabitants situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 National monuments most of them buildings of Cape Dutch architecture....
and Bredasdorp
Bredasdorp
Bredasdorp is a town in the Southern Overberg region of the Western Cape, South Africa, and the main economic and service hub of that region. It lies on the northern edge of the Agulhas Plain, about south-east of Cape Town and north of Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa.-History:The...
, South Africa. Lieutenant W.J. St. John also recorded 'roans' of a bluish grey colour at Liebenbergsvlei (28º15’S, 28º29’E) near Bethlehem
Bethlehem, Free State
Bethlehem is a town in the eastern Free State province of South Africa that is situated on the Liebenbergs river along a fertile valley just south of the Rooiberg Mountains on the N5 highway....
in the Free State
Free State
The Free State is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Orange Free State Boer republic and later Orange Free State Province. The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans...
Province on 28–29 July 1853, and it is now thought that he actually saw the last remnants of a relict
Relict
A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.* In biology a relict is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas....
population of Bluebuck.
From archaeological and palaeontological evidence it is known that the Bluebuck had a wider distribution, and was more common, during the early Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
Epoch 10,000 years ago. At one time it could be found on the coastal plain of the Cape Province from Elands Bay
Elands Bay
Elands Bay is a town in South Africa, situated in the Western Cape Province, on the Atlantic Ocean, at . The town is located about 220 kilometres north from Cape Town...
in the northwest to Uniondale in the east. Researchers of the National Museum
National museum
A national museum is a museum maintained by a nation.The following is a list of national museums:-Australia:*Australian National Aviation Museum*Australian National Maritime Museum*, Sydney*Australian War Memorial*Museum Victoria...
in Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa; and, as the judicial capital of the nation, one of South Africa's three national capitals – the other two being Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Pretoria, the administrative capital.Bloemfontein is popularly and...
have found San
Bushmen
The indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe...
(Bushman) rock paintings near Ficksburg
Ficksburg
Ficksburg is a town situated at the foot of the 450m high Imperani Mountain in Free State province, South Africa. The town was set up by General Johan Fick who won the territory in the Basotho Wars...
and Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Golden Gate Highlands National Park is located in Free State, Republic of South Africa, near the Lesotho border. It covers an area of 340 km² . The park's most notable features are its golden, ochre, and orange-hued deeply eroded sandstone cliffs and outcrops, especially the Brandwag rock...
, while Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
deposits (100 000 to 10 000 years ago) confirm its existence at Rose Cottage cave near Ladybrand
Ladybrand
Ladybrand is a small agricultural town in the Free State province of South Africa, situated 18 km from Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. Ladybrand is one of five towns that forms the Mantsopa Local Municipality...
.
Habitat
The early travellers found the Bluebuck only in rolling grasslandGrassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
with extensive marshes and open areas with medium to long (0,5-1,5 m), perennial tuft grass and little hillside scrub. It was also at home at higher elevations, up to 2 400 m above sea-level. It was susceptible to droughts, and water was a necessary habitat requirement.
They avoided areas with short grass and woodland where trees formed a thick canopy or thickets. Habitat change, due to overgrazing
Overgrazing
Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, or by overpopulations of native or non-native wild animals.Overgrazing reduces the...
of grassland by other species, like sheep, thus threatened this species.
Food
Like the roan and sable, it had to drink daily. Many other antelopes can obtain the moisture they need from the plants they eat and they can go for long periods without drinking.The Bluebuck was a selective grazer of medium to long (0.5-1.5 m), perennial tuft grasses, like high-quality red grass (Themeda triandra), spear grass (Heteropogon contortus), buffalo grass (Panicum spp.) and love grass (Eragrostis spp.). Unlike most other antelope, it was not particularly attracted to fresh grass, except during the dry season, when it would graze for short periods along drainage-lines and on floodplains on the fresh growth following the yearly fires. However, like most grazers, it would probably browse during the dry season.
Behavior
Bluebucks followed the conventional territorial system among the Hippotragini or 'horse antelopes': territorial bulls, herds of cows and calves, and bachelor herds which were kept segregate by the territorial bulls.
Bluebuck cows and calves lived in small to medium-sized herds of 5 to 20 individuals, although herds of 35 to 80 was not unusual. They normally occurred at a low density of about 4/km2. Cows shared a traditional home range, which included the territories of several bulls and occupied it for up to 30 years. At very low densities in substandard habitat the cows ranged across larger areas, and were accompanied by the same bull, which in the absence of resistance by territorial neighbours, defended a movable space around his own private harem
Harem
Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...
.
Because they were equipped with long, dangerous horns, cows tended to be more aggressive than those antelope whose females are hornless. Dominance
Dominance
Dominance may refer to:* Dominance , an aspect of virtual inheritance in the C++ programming language* Dominance , in economics, the degree of inequality in market share distribution...
hierarchies based on age and individual prowess were vigorously maintained by both sexes. Maternal herds, composed of animals that shared the same home range, were closed to outsiders. Herd members kept out of range of each other's horns, by increasing the individual space between them.
Herd composition changed daily and seasonally; members split into small groups during the rainy season, and concentrated into larger groups on the best available grazing near water during the dry season. The most cohesive groups were maintained by calves of different ages, which clustered around the youngest calf and usually lagged behind the herd.
Bulls were accepted in the natal herd up to the age of 15–18 months, which was unusually long. Until then, their similarity to cows suppressed the aggression
Aggression
In psychology, as well as other social and behavioral sciences, aggression refers to behavior between members of the same species that is intended to cause humiliation, pain, or harm. Ferguson and Beaver defined aggressive behavior as "Behavior which is intended to increase the social dominance of...
of the territorial bulls. Subadult bulls were driven from the herd, and if these juveniles didn't escape quickly enough, they were killed. They then joined bachelor herds, where they stayed until they reached five or six years of age, when they would be strong enough to defend their own territory.
The adult bull would advertise his presence and high social status by standing or lying alone or away from the herd, at a conspicuous place. The bull stood in an erect manner, which was a sign of high status, and it was self-advertising if it was not directed. When another bull approached his herd, the dominant bull would stand with his neck arched, head high, and ears turned sideways. Unless the intruder showed submission
Submission
Submission is the acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the power of one's superior or superiors.Submission may also refer to:* Submission/Submitter , an Islamic organisation...
by lowering his head, the bull kept his ears erect, and waved his tail or tucked it between his legs, and a clash of horns and head-butting would take place. Its sound was a blowing snort.
Reproduction
One calf, with a birth mass of 12–14 kg, was dropped after a gestation period of 268–281 days at any time of the year, with a peak during late summer. Bluebuck are thought to have lived for up to 18 years.Predators
The calves were vulnerable to attacks from spotted hyenaSpotted Hyena
The spotted hyena also known as laughing hyena, is a carnivorous mammal of the family Hyaenidae, of which it is the largest extant member. Though the species' prehistoric range included Eurasia extending from Atlantic Europe to China, it now only occurs in all of Africa south of the Sahara save...
s (Crocuta crocuta), leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
s (Panthera pardus) and wild dogs
African Wild Dog
Lycaon pictus is a large canid found only in Africa, especially in savannas and lightly wooded areas. It is variously called the African wild dog, African hunting dog, Cape hunting dog, painted dog, painted wolf, painted hunting dog, spotted dog, or ornate wolf...
(Lycaon pictus). The adults were large and formidable, and resistant to predation
Predation
In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey . Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of its prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption...
in areas with low predator densities. They did sometimes fall prey to lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s (Panthera leo), but were attacked with caution. Normally they would flee from predators, but when wounded, a bluebuck would lie down, preferably in a marsh, and defended itself with its razor-sharp horns - the angle-horn threat display
Display (zoology)
Display is a form of animal behaviour, linked to survival of the species in various ways. One example of display used by some species can be found in the form of courtship, with the male usually having a striking feature that is distinguished by colour, shape or size, used to attract a female...
indicating that it intended to stab sideways or over its shoulder.
History and population
The Bluebuck or Blue Antelope was the first large African mammal to become extinct in historical times.Shortly after the last Ice Age, about 10 000 years ago, the Bluebuck must have been common in the far south of Africa, which was largely covered with grassy plains. Numerous finds of subfossil bones indicate a former distribution area from Elands Bay
Elands Bay
Elands Bay is a town in South Africa, situated in the Western Cape Province, on the Atlantic Ocean, at . The town is located about 220 kilometres north from Cape Town...
in the present Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
to about 25° E at Uniondale, as well as in the Eastern Free State
Free State
The Free State is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Orange Free State Boer republic and later Orange Free State Province. The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans...
. Bluebuck numbers dropped about 3 200-2 000 years ago, due to the change of grassland into bush and forest when the climate became warmer.
They showed a sharp decline around 400 A.D., which coincided with the introduction of livestock, particularly sheep, by man at about that time. Competition
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
for grazing with sheep, the resulting habitat degradation due to overgrazing
Overgrazing
Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, or by overpopulations of native or non-native wild animals.Overgrazing reduces the...
, and diseases may all have contributed to a decline in Bluebuck. Subsistence hunting could also have played a role - it is known that the Late Stone Age
Late Stone Age
The Later Stone Age refers to a period in African prehistory. Its beginnings are roughly contemporaneous with the European Upper Paleolithic...
inhabitants of Rose Cottage cave hunted several game species, including Bluebuck. To the San
Bushmen
The indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe...
(Bushman) the Bluebuck was an important animal, since rock art
Rock art
Rock art is a term used in archaeology for any human-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:*Petroglyphs - carvings into stone surfaces*Pictographs - rock and cave paintings...
indicates that these animals contained supernatural power.
Jan van Riebeeck mentioned a "steinbok" or ibex with back-curved horns near Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, while the German Peter Kolb was the first to write about the existence of a "blaauwbok" or Bluebuck in 1719. The Bluebuck was clearly on its way to extinction when European naturalists and hunters finally discovered it. Its range was already small when Europeans who settled in the Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
in the 17th and 18th century first saw this antelope. The Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg
Carl Peter Thunberg
Carl Peter Thunberg aka Carl Pehr Thunberg aka Carl Per Thunberg was a Swedish naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. He has been called "the father of South African botany" and the "Japanese Linnaeus"....
noted in 1774 that these animals were becoming rare. European hunters and farmers hunted it mainly for its skin. Its meat was not fatty, and generally fed to the dogs, although it was just as tasty as that of deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
. According to the German zoologist Martin Lichtenstein
Martin Lichtenstein
Martin Hinrich Carl Lichtenstein was a German physician, explorer, zoologist, and herpetologist.-Biography:...
, the last Bluebuck in the Cape Province
Cape Province
The Province of the Cape of Good Hope was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa...
was killed in 1799/1800 in the Swellendam
Swellendam
Swellendam is the third oldest town in the Republic of South Africa, a town with 28,072 inhabitants situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 National monuments most of them buildings of Cape Dutch architecture....
district. However, there is good evidence to suggest that an isolated remnant population still existed further north in the 18th century, and that the last Bluebuck died in the Eastern Free State more than fifty years later.
Extinction
Cultivation of the Cape ColonyCape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
and hunting with firearms quickly destroyed the last small herds. The Bluebuck disappeared before the early natural history cabinets and museums had a chance to obtain a fair number of specimens.
Museum specimens
There are four mounted Bluebuck skins: in the National Museum of Natural History “Naturalis” in Leiden (the Netherlands), and in the natural history museums of StockholmStockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
(Sweden), Paris (France) and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
(Austria). Not counting the many bones excavated throughout the species' former range, there are two skulls, in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
(the Netherlands) and Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
(United Kingdom), and three pairs of horns, in Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
(Sweden), London (United Kingdom) and Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
(South Africa). None of these specimens are properly documented.
Relatives
Two close relatives of the Bluebuck are the roan antelopeRoan Antelope
The Roan Antelope is a savanna antelope found in West, Central, East Africa and Southern Africa.Roan Antelope stand about a metre and half at the shoulder and weigh around 250 kilograms. Named for the "roan' colour , they have a lighter underbelly, white eyebrows and cheeks and a black face,...
(Hippotragus equinus) and the sable antelope
Sable Antelope
The Sable Antelope is an antelope which inhabits wooded savannah in East Africa south of Kenya, and in Southern Africa.-Subspecies:There are four subspecies:* H. n. niger which is considered low risk conservation dependent...
(Hippotragus niger). Although some naturalists in the past classified the Bluebuck merely as a subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of the roan, it is now generally accepted as a separate species. This is based on the fact that Bluebuck and roan occurred in sympatry
Sympatry
In biology, two species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus regularly encounter one another. An initially-interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sharing a common range exemplifies sympatric speciation...
on the coastal plain of the southwestern Cape from Oakhurst to Uniondale
Uniondale, Western Cape
Uniondale is a small town in the Little Karoo in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The town was formed in 1856 by the joining of two towns, Hopedale and Lyons. Its primary claim to fame is the ghost story of the Uniondale hitcher...
during the early Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
.
There were a lot of speculations that the Giant or Giant Sable Antelope
Giant Sable Antelope
The Giant Sable Antelope, Hippotragus niger variani, also known in Portuguese as the Palanca Negra Gigante, is a large, rare subspecies of Sable Antelope native and endemic to the region between Cuango and Luando Rivers in Angola....
(Hippotragus niger variani) had become extinct. There had been unconfirmed sightings in recent years, but no confirmed sightings for 20 years. This subspecies of the Sable Antelope only occurred in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, and there are no specimens present in zoos.
An expedition headed to Angola on 14 August 2002 to search for the giant sable antelope. The expedition had tried hunting for the antelope by helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
, but the animals avoid sound at all costs. Interviews with tribal chiefs revealed that locals often sighted the animals in the Luando reserve, so the expedition changed tactics and carried out ground surveys on foot. They recorded five separate sightings but were not able to take any photographs. These five animals were spotted in Cangandala National Park in Malanje province in north-central Angola by a team led by Professor Wouter van Hoven of the University of Pretoria.
Further reading
- Smithers, R.H.N. 1983. Die soogdiere van die Suider-Afrikaanse substreek. Universiteit van Pretoria, Pretoria.
- Stuart, C. & Stuart, T. 1996. Africa's vanishing wildlife. Southern Book Publishers, Halfway House.
- Loubser, J., Brink, J. & Laurens, G. 1990. Paintings of the extinct blue antelope, Hippotragus leucophaeus, in the Eastern Orange Free State. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 45 (152): 106-111.
- Zaloumis, E.A. & Cross, R. 1987. A field guide to the antelope of Southern Africa. Natal Branch of the Wildlife Society of Southern Africa, Durban.
- Colahan, B.D. 1990. "Did the last blue antelope Hippotragus leucophaeus die in the Eastern Orange Free State, South Africa?" Mirafra 7 (2): 51-52.
- Comrie-Greig, J. 1992. Vrae en antwoorde - Bedreigde natuurlewe van Suider-Afrika. Struik Uitgewers, Kaapstad.
- Smith, M. 10 Januarie 2001. "Boesmantekeninge van uitgestorwe kwagga gekry". Volksblad: 5.
- Woodhouse, B. 1996. The rock art of the Golden Gate and ClarensClarens, Free StateClarens is a small town situated in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains in the Free State province of South Africa and nicknamed the "Jewel of the Eastern Free State"...
districts. William Waterman Publications, Rivonia. - De la Harpe, R. 2002. Puik vakansieplekke in Suid-Afrika. Sunbird Publishing, Kaapstad.
- Skead, C.J. 1987. Historical mammal incidence in the Cape Province. Volume 1 – The Western and Northern Cape. The Department of Nature and Environmental Conservation of the Provincial Administration of the Cape of Goof Hope, Cape Town.
- Klein, R.G. 1974. "On the taxonomic status, distribution and ecology of the blue antelope (Hippotragus leucophaeus)". The Annals of the South African Museum 65 (4).
- Klein, R.G. 1987. "The extinct blue antelope". Sagittarius 2 (3).