Kogelberg Nature Reserve
The Bluebuck (Blaubok, Blue Antelope, Blue Buck), Hippotragus leucophaeus occurred historically in the Ruens until it was hunted out at about 1800.
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It was the Fynbos congenor to the Roan and Sable: smaller than them, but with as long, but slender, horns. Fossils and bushman paintings suggest a wider distribution on the West Coast and into the Drakensberg foothills, with a high abundance during the last glacial.
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First mentioned in 1681, and described in 1776 by Peter Pallas from a specimen at Leiden collected at Swellendam. For a while it was synonomized with the Roan. Only four mounted specimens remain, in Leiden, Stockholm, Vienna and Paris Museums.
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Standing about 1200 mm tall, with horns about 565 mm long. The blue sheen that gave the animal its name is not apparent in skins: the coat was a "fine blue" in living specimens, but faded to "bluish grey, with a mixture of white" on death. The belly and flanks were pale. The forehead was darker than the face, which lacked dark markings typical of the Roan and Sable. Compared to its relatives the ears were short and blunt, but still significantly larger than other buck (and useful for ID of bushman paintings). It lacked a mane. The tail had a dark tuft.
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Based on its relatives it would have been a selective grazer. However, the premolars are longer than typical hinting at perhaps shrubs in the diet. Prevalence of juveniles among fossils has spawned speculation that breeding took place in the west in winter with a summer eastwards migration.
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Source: Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebuck
The note in Wiki: "20 January 1774, Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg recorded a sighting in Tigerhoek, Mpumalanga" is certainly erroneous and is probably the Tierhoek near Riviersonderend in the Western Cape.
The Cape Warthog used to occur in the EC and adj. KZN. It is unsure how far west it extended, perhaps over much of the old Cape s of the Orange River.
It probably went extinct in the 1870s in the EC.
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Rediscovery of the Cape warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus: a review.
P Grubb & J-P d’Huart 2010
Journal of East African Natural History: 99:
Abstract
Warthogs without incisors were described from the Cape of Good Hope as Phacochoerus aethiopicus and warthogs possessing incisors were first found in Senegal and later named Phacochoerus africanus. During the second half of the 18th century and the whole of the 19th century, the majority of workers recognised these two taxa as distinct. Twentieth century palaeontologists working in Africa also recognised the two species of warthogs in the Pleistocene and Holocene fossil records and were aware of the differences between the two Recent species. But in the same period, most zoologists considered all warthogs to belong to a single polytypic species. Re-examination of the literature and inspection of recent material confirm distinctive differences corresponding with geographic distribution of two species of warthogs: the widespread Common Warthog Phacochoerus africanus and the Cape Warthog P. aethiopicus. Whereas the Cape Warthog, P. aethiopicus aethiopicus, became extinct in South Africa in the 1870s, a geographically isolated subspecies, P. aethiopicus delamerei, survives in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. This discontinuous distribution has been noted in the literature, as are the criteria which distinguish P. aethiopicus from P. africanus.
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Keywords: Phacochoerus aethiopicus, warthog systematics, geographical isolation, morphology.
(http://www.ajol.info/index.php/jeanh/article/view/66018)
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More reading:
https://sites.google.com/site/wildpigspecialistgroup/home/Phacochoerus-aethiopicus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_warthog
http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/naturalhistories/Order.html
http://www.africahunting.com/threads/the-common-warthog-and-the-desert-warthog.15224/
First located in the garage, then a few days later in the dining room. Huge fuss! Safely relocated to the garden.