Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) lives in open savanna, grassland, and woodland across Eastern and Southern Africa. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Fascinating facts about the Wildebeest
- Blue wildebeest can sprint at 80 km/h (50 mph) and still run 80 km (50 mi) in five days without drinking, even when peak daytime temperatures hit 38 °C (100 °F). Their muscles are among the most efficient of any mammal, converting 62.6% of metabolic energy into forward motion while the rest is lost as heat.
- A single blue wildebeest calf weighs about 19 kg (42 lb) at birth and can stand within roughly six minutes, allowing it to flee predators almost immediately. The gestation lasts about 8.5 months, and as high as 95% of females conceive during the three-week rut that follows the rainy season, synchronising births so that calves emerge together in the middle of the herd during daylight. This tight timing overwhelms predators and boosts first-month survival to 80% in large herds.
- Male blue wildebeest grow horns up to 83 cm (33 in) long, while females sport shorter horns of 30-40 cm (12-16 in). These massive, parenthetical horns, together with a front-heavy, muscular build, give the species a bovine silhouette despite being an antelope. Territorial clashes begin at four or five years old, where a one-square-kilometre plain can hold up to 270 bulls, each defending a 1.5 km² territory.
- The blue wildebeest's chromosome count is 58 diploid, with most chromosomes acrocentric except a pair of very large submetacentric chromosomes in both sexes. about one million years ago, after diverging from a common ancestor roughly two-and-a-half million years ago.
- Adult blue wildebeest stand 1.15-1.45 m (3.8-4.8 ft) tall, weigh 165-290 kg (364-639 lb) for males and 140-260 kg (310-570 lb) for females, and can live up to 24.3 years in captivity, with a typical wild lifespan of about 20 years. Their massive bodies and long black tails (60-100 cm), during which herds may travel hundreds of kilometres to track fresh grass, a movement that sustains the ecosystem by fertilising the plains with urine and dung.
Sources
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At a glance
RangeEastern and Southern Africa
HabitatOpen savanna, grassland, and woodland
DietShort grasses
About the Wildebeest
No migration on land matches the wildebeest's annual circuit of the Serengeti in spectacle or scale. One and a half million animals, driven by ancient instinct and the pursuit of rain-freshened grass, thunder across the plains in columns that stretch to the horizon. At the Mara River, crocodiles the size of cars wait in the churning crossings, extracting their ancient toll from a procession that has been rolling across this landscape for a million years.
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