Pyrenean ibex

The Pyrenean ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica), <a href="/facts/Aragonese_language/hduBfPCR">Aragonese</a> and <a href="/facts/Spanish_language/95BgYNfv">Spanish</a> common name bucardo, <a href="/facts/Basque_language/rEMpH97p">Basque</a> common name bukardo, <a href="/facts/Catalan_language/W2uTbK8Q">Catalan</a> common name herc and <a href="/facts/French_language/qe1DnaQh">French</a> common name bouquetin, was one of the four <a href="/facts/Subspecies/4L9jFacF">subspecies</a> of the <a href="/facts/Iberian_ibex/dLhWzdww">Iberian ibex</a> or Iberian wild goat (Capra pyrenaica), a species native to the <a href="/facts/Iberian_Peninsula/ztFXI8zt">Iberian Peninsula</a> and immediately adjacent southern <a href="/facts/France/CxIeIKM3">France</a>. The Pyrenean ibex occurred in the northeastern part of the species' range in the <a href="/facts/Cantabrian_Mountains/uKy0yRca">Cantabrian Mountains</a> and the <a href="/facts/Pyrenees/YJ38kInj">Pyrenees</a>, in northern <a href="/facts/Spain/bIyrB8EY">Spain</a> and the far south of France. This subspecies was common during the <a href="/facts/Holocene/sppPgwW5">Holocene</a> and <a href="/facts/Pleistocene/0ya9eUp5">Upper Pleistocene</a>, during which their morphology, primarily some skulls, of the Pyrenean ibex evolved to be larger than other subspecies of Capra pyrenaica in southwestern Europe from the same time.
The last Pyrenean ibex died in January 2000, making the subspecies <a href="/facts/Extinction/24p5NP2q">extinct</a>. Other subspecies have survived; the <a href="/facts/Western_Spanish_ibex/0CCq3Bsu">western Spanish</a> or Gredos ibex, and the <a href="/facts/Southeastern_Spanish_ibex/KJqK5TIX">southeastern Spanish</a> or beceite ibex, while the <a href="/facts/Portuguese_ibex/uhS6mQhp">Portuguese ibex</a> had already become extinct a century earlier. Since the last of the Pyrenean ibex became extinct before scientists could adequately analyse them, the taxonomy of this particular subspecies is controversial.
Following several failed attempts to revive the subspecies through <a href="/facts/Cloning/Vb6SM4c7">cloning</a> of preserved tissue from the last surviving female, a living specimen was born in July 2003. The cloned Pyrenean ibex was born in <a href="/facts/Spain/bIyrB8EY">Spain</a> through genetic cloning techniques, with the research article published in 2009. However, she died several minutes after birth due to a lung defect. The Pyrenean ibex is the first animal to have been <a href="/facts/De-extinction/vgHRND7m">brought back from extinction</a> through cloning and also the only one to become extinct twice.

Pyrenean ibex open-in-new

Pyrenean ibex