The Bucardo: The Extinct Goat Of The Pyrenees

The bucardo was an emblematic animal that became extinct in 2000. Despite its disappearance, it is possible that through cloning techniques we will one day see it again.

The bucardo ( Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) was a very common animal in the Pyrenees, appreciated for its value as a game. Starting in the 20th century, the rapid decline of its population led to enormous efforts being invested in its conservation. However, all these resources were insufficient and the last female bucardo died in 2000.

Knowing the cases of extinction of animal species is essential so that these episodes do not repeat themselves. If you want to know more about the history and characteristics of this mammal, keep reading.

History of the bucardo: the ghost of Ordesa

The bucardo was a subspecies of ibex typical of the high Pyrenean mountains, between Spain and France. In these mountains is the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park. In this remote mountainous area it was very common to see this goat trotting and climbing. Precisely, this extreme isolation made the bucardo an animal quite unknown to science.

It differed from the other subspecies of ibex mainly by its longer and denser hair, as well as its enormous antlers, which far surpassed that of other subspecies. Precisely, this spectacular antler made it a highly coveted prey by French hunters , since it was larger than that of the Alpine ibex.

The hunting of this mammal was so common that in 1910 the bucardo disappeared from the French side of the Pyrenees, surviving only in the Spanish part. Even at that time, the first measures were taken to protect this subspecies : hunting was prohibited and the declaration of the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park protected part of its habitat.

However, these protective measures were insufficient for a population that was already in serious danger. In the 1970s, less than fifty bucardo specimens lived in the mountains. By then, researchers from the Aragón Center for Agrifood Research and Technology activated all possible resources to achieve the survival of this animal.

The extinction of the emblem of the Pyrenees

Despite the efforts made, the bucardos population began to decline rapidly. Two factors contributed to this:

1. On the one hand, the high consanguinity of the last specimens, which made them prone to multiple diseases.
2. On the other, there was the great ignorance of this elusive mountain goat. Living in the most remote and inaccessible areas of the mountain, it was incredibly difficult to know how many animals there were. All this earned him the nickname of “The ghost of Ordesa.”

Well into the nineties, the danger of extinction was critical: there were barely three female bucardo left. To avoid its extinction, the researchers then decided to catch one of them to reproduce it in captivity with a male of another subspecies of ibex. This attempt failed and hopes were dwindling.

In 1999 there was only one female left, named Celia. On January 6, 2000, she was found dead under a fallen tree. This was the sad end of the most emblematic species of the Pyrenees, since unfortunately all efforts to save it were in vain. If you want to know more about the fauna of the Pyrenees, you can click on this link.

The resurrection of the bucardo

Despite the death of the last specimen, science offers us a window of opportunity to see this species resurface. In the 1990s , several bucardo cell samples were saved  for possible cloning. 

In 2003, this became a reality. An embryo from Celia,  the last living bucarda, was implanted in the uterus of a mountain goat of another subspecies. At 162 days of gestation, a bucardita was born, a Celia clone  , which unfortunately survived a few hours.

Despite this failure, cloning was shown to be a possible route to the bucardo’s return. In the future, the researchers hope to bring back the “ghost of Ordesa” using this technique. If you want to know more about cloning, you can click on this link.

“Salvar al bucardo” the documentary that tells everything

In 2019, “Salvar al bucardo” was released, a documentary by Pablo Lozano that tells “the story of the desperate struggle of some scientists to save an emblematic animal of the Pyrenees”. In it, multiple scientists tell their experiences in the risky census of the bucardo of the eighties and nineties, the cloning attempts and their experiences with this enigmatic animal.