Rationale
(Changed due to Same category and criteria)
The last individual Blue Antelope was shot around 1800, the first African antelope to be hunted to extinction by European settlers (Klein 1974).
Distribution
Historically the Blue Antelope was endemic to South Africa, where it was confined to a limited area of the southwestern Cape coast and where it was apparently uncommon. The species was first recorded in 1719 by Kolbe, and was described by Pallas in 1766 (Klein 1974) from material of uncertain provenance (Rookmaaker 1989). Its historical distribution is thus based on few records, of which only two can be considered to be reasonably precise (Kerley et al. 2009): Thunberg on 20 January 1774 and Le Vaillant in March/April 1783. An additional record in 1783 provided by Sparrman (1786) much further east at Krakeel River in the Langkloof may reflect a transported skin, given that this location is hundreds of kilometres east of other records. However, although the recent historical range is thought to be bounded by the locations of the Caledon, Swellendam and Bredasdorp, in the Western Cape (Skead 1980, Rookmaaker 1989), archaeological evidence suggests a previously much wider distribution: early in the Last Glacial (70,000–35,000 years before present (ybp)) it occurred on the grasslands of the Cape lowlands, south of the Cape Folded Belt from present day Grahamstown (farm ‘‘Uniondale’’) in the east to the vicinity of Saldanha Bay in the West. A similar distribution has been inferred for the early (ca 10,000 ybp) Holocene (Klein 1974, Cruz-Uribe et al.2003). During the late Pleistocene (18,000–10,000 ybp), analysis of rock paintings reveal that the species occurred as far north as the eastern parts of South Africa’s Free State Province (Loubser et al. 1990, Plug and Engela 1992, Plug and Badenhorst 2001).
The last individual Blue Antelope was shot around 1800; it was the first African antelope to be hunted to extinction by European settlers (Klein 1974).
Threats
Although habitat loss and hunting played proximate roles in the extinction of the species, hunting merely tipped the species over the extinction edge it was already straddling, as long-term climate change is suspected to have played a more important role by fragmenting and reducing the resilience of the population (Kerley et al. 2009, Tyler Faith and Thompson 2013).
[@electronic{3069,
address = {www.iucnredlist.org},
author = {IUCN},
title = {The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2017-2},
year = {2017}
}
,@article{10168,
author = {Klein, R.G.},
journal = {Annals of the South African Museum},
pages = {99--143},
title = {On the taxonomic status, distribution and ecology of the blue antelope, <i>Hippotragus leucophaeus</i> (Pallas, 1766)},
volume = {65},
year = {1974}
}
,@inbook{10168,
address = {Sunderland, MA},
author = {Wilcox },
booktitle = {Evolutionary changes in small populations.},
editor = {Franklin, I.R.},
pages = {135–150 },
publisher = { Sinauer Associates },
title = {Conservation Biology. An Evolutionary Ecological Perspective },
year = {1980}
}
,@article{10168,
author = {Cowling, R.M. and Heijnis, C.E.},
journal = {South African Journal of Botany},
pages = {15--38},
title = {The identification of Broad Habitat Units as biodiversity entities for systematic conservation planning in the Cape Floristic Region},
volume = {67},
year = {2001}
}
,@article{10168,
author = {Cruz-Uribe, K., Klein, R.G., Avery, G., Avery, M., Halkett, D., Hart, T., Milo, R.G., Sampson, V.G. and Volman, T.P.},
journal = {Jounal of Archaeological Science},
pages = {559--575},
title = {Excavation of buried late Acheulean (mid-quaternary) land surfaces at Duinefontein 2, Western Capr Province, South Africa.},
volume = {30},
year = {2003}
}
,@article{10168,
author = {Kerley, G.I., Sims-Castley, R., Boshoff, A.F. and Cowling R.M.},
journal = {Biodiversity and Conservation},
pages = {3235--3242},
title = {Extinction of the blue antelope Hippotragus leucophaeus: modeling predicts non-viable global population size as the primary driver.},
volume = {18},
year = {2009}
}
,@article{10168,
author = {Loubser, J., Brink, J. and Laurens, G.},
journal = {The South African Archaeological Bulletin},
pages = {106--111},
title = {Paintings of the extinct Blue Antelope <i>Hippotragus leucophaeus</i> in the Eastern Orange Free State.},
volume = {45},
year = {1990}
}
,@book{10168,
address = {Pretoria},
author = {Plug, I. and Badenhorst, S.},
publisher = {Transvaal Museum},
title = {The distribution of macromammals in southern Africa over the past 30,000 years},
year = {2001}
}
,@article{10168,
author = {Plug, I. and Engela, R.},
journal = {The South African Archaeological Bulletin},
pages = {16--25},
title = {The macrofaunal remains from recent excavations at Rose Cottage Cave, Orange Free State},
volume = {47},
year = {1992}
}
,@book{10168,
address = {Rotterdam},
author = {Rookmaaker, L.C.},
publisher = {Balkema},
title = {The zoological exploration of southern Africa, 1650-1970},
year = {1989}
}
,@book{10168,
address = {Cape Tpwn},
author = {Skead, C.J.},
publisher = {Department of Nature and Environmental Conservation},
title = {Historical mammal incidence in the Cape Province: Vol. 1. The Western and Northern Cape},
year = {1980}
}
,@article{10168,
author = {Tyler Faith, J. and Thompson, J.C.},
journal = {Journal of Biogeography},
pages = {2108--2118},
title = {Fossil evidence for seasonal calving and migration of extinct blue antelope (<i>Hippotragus leucophaeus</i>) in southern Africa.},
volume = {40},
year = {2013}
}
,]
