Bluebuck

Bluebuck
	One of four existing bluebuck skins, Vienna Museum of Natural History. The blue colour is caused by the lighting.
Conservation status
	; Extinct (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Hippotraginae
Genus:	Hippotragus
Binomial name
	Hippotragus leucophaeus;
	Where the bluebuck lived in South Africa (in red)

The bluebuck (Afrikaans: bloubok also known as the blue antelope ('Hippotragus leucophaeus) is an extinct species of antelope that lived in South Africa until around 1800. It was smaller than the other two species in its genus Hippotragus, the roan antelope and sable antelope. The bluebuck was sometimes considered a subspecies of the roan antelope, but a study has confirmed it as a distinct species. During the Late Pleistocene, the bluebuck was common across South Africa, but by the time Europeans encountered the bluebuck in the 17th century, it was already uncommon, perhaps due to its preferred grassland habitat having been reduced to a 4,300-square-kilometre (1,700 sq mi) area, along the southern coast of South Africa The first published mention of the bluebuck is from 1681, and few descriptions of the animal were written while it existed Hunted by European settlers, the bluebuck became extinct around 1800; it was the first historically recorded species of large African mammal to face extinction. Only four mounted skins remain, in museums in Leiden, Stockholm, Vienna, and Paris, along with horns and possible bones in various museums.

Bluebuck

One of four existing bluebuck skins, Vienna Museum of Natural History. The blue colour is caused by the lighting.
Conservation status
Extinct (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Hippotraginae
Genus:	Hippotragus
Binomial name
*Hippotragus leucophaeus*

Where the bluebuck lived in South Africa (in red)

Bluebuck

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