| Bubal Hartebeest | |
|---|---|
| A female Hartebeest that lived in London Zoo from 4 October 1883 until 27 April 1897. Photographed by Lewis Medland in 1895. | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Eutheria |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Alcelaphinae |
| Genus: | Alcelaphus |
| Species: | A. buselaphus |
| Subspecies: | †A. b. buselaphus |
| Trinomial name | |
| †Alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus (Pallas, 1766) |
|
The Bubal Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus) is classified as an extinct antelope.
The statement that the antelope was extinct in 1923 has been refuted by the following source written in 1945 (Extinct and vanishing mammals of the Old World (1945)by Harper, Francis). The Bubal still existed in 1925 in the region of Missour (eastern Morocco)...It perhaps still lives in the south of Geryville (Algeria). [2]
The name Hartebeest is a Dutch word (originally spelled hertebeest) which means deer. The Bubal Hartebeest stood at around 122 cm (4 ft) at the shoulder. It also had lyre-shaped horns. The Bubal Hartebeest is believed to have once lived in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. It may also have resided in the Middle East. [3] The Hartebeest was once domesticated by Egyptians and may have been used as a sacrificial animal. Its horns in tombs at Abadiyeh indicated its importance as a food source and in mythology. It is even mentioned in the Old Testament under the name Yachmur (1 Kings 4:23) [4]. Starting in the 1900s the Bubal Hartebeest could only be found in Algeria and the Moroccan High Atlas. Many Hartebeests were captured and were kept alive (e.g. in the London Zoo from 1883 to 1907[5]), but they eventually died out. In 1923, a Bubal Hartebeest female that died in a Paris Zoo is believed to have been that last one remaining.
The ancient Egyptians had a hieroglyph meaning "baby hartebeest":