What extinct ibex from the Pyrenees was cloned but died shortly after birth in 2003?

The extinct Pyrenean ibex from the Pyrenees that was cloned and died shortly after birth in 2003 was the Pyrenean ibex.

The animal was an extinct subspecies of Iberian ibex, Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica, also known as the bucardo. Its last natural individual, a female named Celia, died in Spain on 6 January 2000. Fortunately, scientists had preserved tissue samples from her ear, allowing researchers to attempt somatic cell nuclear transfer.

In 2003, researchers created embryos using Celia’s genetic material and goat eggs whose nuclei had been removed. Domestic goats served as surrogate mothers. Most reconstructed embryos failed, but one clone was born alive in Spain on 30 July 2003. It survived only several minutes because of severe lung abnormalities, including atelectasis and an extra lung lobe.

This made the Pyrenean ibex the first extinct taxon temporarily brought back through cloning—and the first animal often described as having become extinct twice. The result was not a recovered population: cloning reproduced one individual, without the genetic diversity or living ecosystem needed for conservation.