Bluebuck

We’re bringing back a literal blue antelope. From extinction. Because nature has range. That’s right, today we’re officially announcing the bluebuck de-extinction project. 🦌 💙 More than 200 years ago, the bluebuck (Hippotragus leucophaeus), a silvery, slate-blue antelope native to South Africa, disappeared. Climate shifts had already squeezed its habitat after the last ice age. Then farming, livestock, and hunting delivered the final blow. By 1800, it was extinct. We didn’t love that ending. So we’re rewriting it. We’ve already built a high-quality genome and are now developing new assisted reproductive tools for antelope. Many of these have never been done before in antelope. And that’s important because habitat fragmentation is isolating antelope across Africa. When herds are cut off, genetic diversity drops. The tools we’re building for bluebuck could one day help strengthen living populations and protect endangered ones.