Blue Wildebeest
(Latin = Connochaetus taurinus, Afrikaans = Blouwildebees, German = Streifengnu/Weissbartgnu)
(Latin = Connochaetus taurinus, Afrikaans = Blouwildebees, German = Streifengnu/Weissbartgnu)
Numbers: High
Weight: 180 - 270kg (396 - 594 lb.)
Shoulder height: 135 - 150 cm (54 - 60 in.)
Females horns: Yes
Found in warmer areas, such as the northern parts of the Northern Province and Mpumalanga, especially in the Limpopo valley and in the whole of the Lowveld, as well as in all the Kalahari-areas of the North Cape, extending almost into the Free State, and in a patch of the far north-eastern midland in KwaZulu-Natal.
This animal is often used as a symbol of the out of Africa experience, especially when the total strangeness, open spaces and wilder migrational animal behaviour is portrait. South Africa don't have as many wildebeests migrating as is sometimes seen in a few African states, but still numbers an abundance of blue wildebeests to be enjoyed in a enviable variety of scenic African settings. They love to move in search of water and better savanna graze. Particularly the calves are falling prey to a vast variety of carnivores, because they share the same geographical surroundings as the most vicious of animal-eaters. So, with the goodness of the early rainy season (coming from late September/October), the springtime and the newborn fawns, also comes some of the most devastating fighting seen in the bush : a mother, fighting of hyenas, wild dogs or even the great cats in defense of her little one, sometimes sacrificing herself in the brawl. Her back secured in a thorn bush, her knees dropped to the ground, her calve between the legs, she will snortingly face her ordeal. But often, she's given a opening and, falling for the trick, she'll realize too late that the calve can't outdistance the enemy and the day would belong to the carnivores. The bulls can be even more fierce, and when wounded, no hunter or lion can be off guard for once tiny moment, for he's able to end a party by his typical snorting, charging, and, sometimes, goring sweep, which will leave any hospital way too far off.
