Ungulates - Artensterben

Blaubock: Colossal plant die Wiederauferstehung

One of the few known bluebuck specimens at the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle in Paris—none is preserved intact, which makes genetic reconstruction considerably more difficult. Image: Doreen Fräßdorf

1. May 2026 Doreen Fräßdorf

The resurrection of the Bluebuck?—New plans from Colossal Biosciences

More than 200 years ago, the bluebuck disappeared from southern Africa. Now the US biotech company Colossal Biosciences is working to bring this extinct species back to life, at least in part. The approach is known as de-extinction. The bluebuck (Hippotragus leucophaeus) was an antelope found exclusively in the open

The kouprey is among the most enigmatic wild cattle in the world. First described scientifically in 1937, it was already extremely rare at that time. Characteristic features include the frayed horn tips of mature bulls and the pronounced dewlap. Today, according to the IUCN, the kouprey is probably extinct. (© Illustration aus Coolidge, H. J. (1940). The Indo-Chinese forest ox or kouprey. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 54(6), via Biodiversity Heritage Library)

27. June 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

The Kouprey: A Zoological Mystery

The kouprey is considered one of the most mysterious wild cattle in the world. First described by Western scientists only in 1937, this shy animal from the tropical forests of the tri-border region of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia remained scarcely studied for decades. Many zoologists saw the kouprey as a

One of the few photographs of the extinct Schomburgk's deer. The picture was taken in 1911 at the Berlin Zoological Garden. (© Lothar Schlawe, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

9. June 2025 Doreen Fräßdorf

Schomburgk’s deer — Could it still exist?

The riddle of Schomburgk’s deer “No one seems ever to have seen this animal; all that we think we know about it is the existence of its antlers”, noted Phya Jolamark Bhicharana wrote in 1932 about Schomburgk’s deer. The American biologist Francis Harper also wrote in 1945 that this deer—which

This painting is a copy of the original, which was acquired from a dealer in Augsburg in the 19th century. The original likely dates back to the 16th century. It is unclear whether it depicts an aurochs, a cross between cattle and an aurochs, or an aurochs-like cattle breed. (© Charles Hamilton Smith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

5. October 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

The Return of the Aurochs as the Tauros: From Extinction Back to the Pastures

For nearly 400 years, the aurochs, or urus, the wild ancestor of all modern domesticated cattle, has been considered extinct. However, it may soon reappear in the form of the Tauros, its selectively bred successor, in the UK. According to a report by BBC Countryfile, there are plans to reintroduce

The Yemen gazelle, which was described solely on the basis of skins, was probably similar in size to or larger than the mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella), which reaches a body length of up to 1.2 metres. (© The Great Mule of Eupatoria, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

4. October 2024 Doreen Fräßdorf

Yemen Gazelle

Named after Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba The scientific species name of the Yemen gazelle, bilkis, are derived from Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba, a legendary figure in Islamic, Jewish, and Christian traditions. Her kingdom, renowned for its wealth and cultural flourishing, lay in southern Arabia, in what is now

The head-body length of the bubal hartebeest was 150 to 244 centimeters. Its shoulder height ranged between 109 and 150 centimeters. (© Goldfuss, Georg August; Schreber, Johann Christian Daniel; Wagner, Andreas Johann, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

10. June 2022 Doreen Fräßdorf

Bubal hartebeest

The bubal and ancient civilizations The German zoologist Alfred Brehm writes in the 1911 edition of his world-famous zoological reference work Brehms Tierleben: “Of the various species, the one known the longest is the bubal hartebeest, frequently depicted on Egyptian monuments Bubalis buselaphus.” And indeed: the bubal must once have

Life reconstruction of an aurochs bull found in Braunschweig. The skeleton served as a direct reference for the proportions and horns. Body shape and colour are based on current knowledge about the wild cattle. (© Jaap Rouwenhorst (photograph) DFoidl (GIMP modifications), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

16. May 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Aurochs

How a wild animal became a domestic animal The aurochs or ur is considered the first wild cattle domesticated by humans, to guarantee a steady supply of meat and milk and to have draft and working animals available. Domestication is always associated with physical changes as well: over time, the

An illustration of the bluebuck, created between October 1777 and March 1786. Image: Robert Jacob Gordon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

14. May 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Bluebuck

Rarer in museums than previously thought “Also running on the high mountains are many kinds of wild bucks and goats, such as gemsbok, blue bucks, pied bucks, roe bucks, klipspringers, ibexes, wild bucks,” it says in Johann Schreyer’s Neue Ost-Indianische Reisz-Beschreibung from 1681. This is the first time that “blue

Drawing of a deer-pig by the naturalist painter Jean-Charles Werner (1830). Like wild boar (Sus scrofa), babirusas have two lower tusks that grow out of the side of their mouth. In addition, deer-pigs have two particularly large upper tusks that break through the trunk and are up to 30 centimeters long. (© Sitron, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

5. April 2021 Doreen Fräßdorf

Bola Batu Babirusa

Half deer, half pig The animal with the strange-sounding name Bola Batu babirusa is a presumably extinct species of deer-pigs (Babyrousa)—a combination of the Indonesian words for Deer and Pig. Scientists disagree about whether the species found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is extinct or still alive, and whether

Drawing of the red gazelle from the 1899 book Great and Small Game of Africa. (© Rowland Ward, Limited. [d. 1912], Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

1. March 2018 Doreen Fräßdorf

Red gazelle

The last animal died in 1894 The Red gazelle is known only from the skins and bones of three male specimens, which are currently housed in museums in Paris and London. The last known individual of this species was likely killed by a hunter in 1894, as there have been