Wildebeest fact file
Scientific name: Connochaetes (flowing beard) taurinus (like a bull) albojubatus (white mane)
Other name: Gnu
Size: males 50-58 inches at shoulder; females 46-57 inches at shoulder
Weight: adult males 165 to 274 kg; adult females 140 to 230 kg
Life span: up to 20 years in zoos
Sexual maturity: females around 2.5 years; males at 3 to 4 years
Habitat: grasslands of Eastern Africa
Diet: Wildebeest are Herbivores feeding mainly on grass.
The Circle of Life:
A Wildebeest’s life revolves around their endless search of food and water. They migrate from one area to another in overwhelming herds looking for greener pastures. Zebra who share a similar diet to the Wildebeest, join them & follow the Wildebeests’ migratory routes in search of food. Also, following this migration is a trail of predators such as Lion & Hyena who make these Herbivores their diet for as long as they are within their region. Atleast 1.5 million Wildebeest and some 200,000 Zebra are thought to be part of each year’s migration.
Their journey begins in Tanzania around December, where they feed on the green grass produced after the rainy season in the Southern regions of the Serengeti National Reserve and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. This is also their calving season, which lasts upto Mid March. By April, the great herds having exhausted the region’s grassland move onward to the Western Serengeti Corridor which has produced greener grass due to it’s ongoing rains. They feed on the Western Serengeti plains until June, once again leaving the exhausted region in search of food & moving northwards towards Kenya, entering the Masai Mara Game Reserve.
The Great Crossing:
By late July, the herds make their way across the Mara River infested with Crocodiles which lies as their final barrier to the great pastures ahead. They remain in the Masai Mara until mid/late October when the dry season approaches in Kenya and they start making their way back to the wet Southern plains of the Serengeti where they once again give birth, completing their migration and yet again embarking on the same journey for another year.
