Wildebeest or African Gnu

Characteristics

Wildebeest, or gnus are noisy. They constantly emit low moans and if disturbed, snort explosively.

Blue-wildebeest are continually on the move as they seek favorable supplies of grass and water. Active both day and night, they often string out in long single columns when on the move.

They also cover long distances at a slow rocking gallop but can run fast when necessary.

Habitat

Zebras and wildebeests sometimes graze together for security. Wildebeest prefer short grass whereas Zebras longer grass. They are unable to go without water for more than a few days

Defence

When neighboring bulls meet at the edges of their territories they go through a highly ritualized “challenge” in which they paw the ground, buck, snort and fight. They typical combat position in on their knees, facing one another, with their foreheads flat on the ground – they knock heads and hit at the base of the horns but seldom injure one another

Pawprints

Breeding

During mating season smaller breeding groups of about 150 animals form within the herds. In these small groups, five or six of the most active bulls establish and defend territories that females wander through.

The bulls go through all kinds of antics, galloping and bucking around their territories. They paw the ground and rub their heads on it, spreading secretions produced by the preorbital and interdigital glands.

They also urinate and defecate in a certain spot and roll in it to signal to other bulls to stay away. The antics of the territorial bulls during breeding season have earned them the name “clowns of the savanna.”

Smaller than Blue Wildebeest
Both sexes have horns.
Shoulder height (m) 1,2 m; (f) 1 m,
mass (m) 180 kg, (f) 160 kg

WHERE FOUND:
Golden Gate Highlands National Park
Mountain Zebra National Park
Karoo National Park
West Coast National Park
Midmar Dam KZN
Southern Drakensberg

Black Wildebeest once roamed the central plateau open plains in great herds of hundreds of thousands, but are now restricted to the above parks

When alarmed, the animal swishes its long tail back and forth so vigorously that the loud whistling or hissing sound it creates can be heard for almost a kilometre

The jaw structure, and their wide rows of teeth, prevents them from eating many of the longer types of grasses, hence the association with Zebra who can eat longer grass

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