Bucardo back in Ordesa?

[clive Grazalema]

Just saw some news that is very doubtful as this species (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) went extinct in 2000. Not one scientific name in the entire article so who knows….

Spanish Ibex – Capra pyrenaica hispanica (Schimper, 1848).
Gredos Ibex – Capra pyrenaica victoriae (Cabrera, 1911).
Now Extinct – Portuguese Ibex – Capra pyrenaica lusitanica (Schlegel, 1872).
Now Extinct – Pyrenean Ibex – Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica (Schinz, 1838).

The video shows a Spanish ibex from a distance… I am guessing its a Spanish ibex……….. Capra pyrenaica hispanica

Article here: https://www.heraldo.es/noticias/aragon/huesca/2022/11/17/avistada-la-primera-cabra-montes-en-el-parque-nacional-de-ordesa-1612882.html

Good info over at wikipedia as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrenean_ibex

 

---

Take a trip on the Wildside!

https://wildsideholidays.co.uk (Wildlife and nature holidays in Spain)

https://grazalemaguide.com/ (All my web projects in one portal and everything you need to know about Grazalema)

[Rachel]

On the French side they have been releasing Spanish Ibex for ages. I expect it is one of them?

https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/occitanie/hautes-pyrenees/tarbes/pyrenees-les-bouquetins-iberiques-de-plus-en-plus-nombreux-dans-le-parc-national-2633120.html

[Miguel Cádiz]

Some fairly bad reporting recently about this subject in various publications…… people confusing cabra montes and bucardo as the same thing… Lots of Spanish biologists up in arms about it as we know that the bucardo is extinct since 2000….

So, I guess that a Bucardo is just the north Spain name for a cabra montes?????

https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/medio-ambiente/2022/11/20/637a25ed21efa0ac4b8b45ba.html

[SteveT Yatton]

I guess it comes down to genetics and when is a sub species not a sub species and just a significant group with important genetic differences. The 4 sub species have / had morphological differences but I cant see any genetic  studies on them. So we don’t know how significantly different they are/were. Clearly any genetic loss when the Bucardo became extinct resulted in regretable genetic loss. Bucardo was a local name for the isolated ( perhaps even significantly genetical different)  Ibex population in the Pyrenees.

Interestingly I found out that skin from the last Bucardo was used to produce a clone in 2003 but this died shortly after birth due to conditional issues. Amazingly too I remember the reports of the death of the last Bucardo and if I remember correctly it was killed by being crushed by a falling branch – very unlucky! I guess too genetic material of the last Bucardo must still exist. So it is likely that we haven’t heard the last of the Bucardo.

I guess too the positive message is that one of the Spanish ibex sub species has been able to begin to re establish itself in the Pyrenees and fill the Bucardos niche and reinforce it’s ecological complexity.

 

 

 

[Author]

Posts