Blue Wildebeest

The great migration of blue wildebeests across Tanzania alone accounts for over one million animals, with a further estimated 1.5 million of these animals found across Sub-Saharan Africa. These large numbers make this species a definite member of the "least concern" club on the IUCN's red list. Growing rural settlements and new farmlands contribute to habitat loss for most animal species. Still, their choice of drier regions in which to live makes for less desirable farmland and restricts communities from re-purposing the land for their benefit. There are benefits to living in drier environments. In short, these antelope are not threatened.

They are primarily grazers, preferring short grass. They inhabit arid savanna, grassland, and woodland areas, including Zambia's notorious Miombo woodland areas, which are too infertile for most animals. Semi-desert areas and pans found in the Kalahari Desert region also fit the bill as a suitable habitat. Blue wildebeest are peculiar in that they naturally favor areas generally "harder" to survive in, with resources more scarce and water harder to come by.

These animals are very territorial and gregarious. Maternal groups wander around their home range, which may include a few male territories. Juvenile males form bachelor herds. This structure usually changes during the dry season when resources become scarcer, and the wildebeest populations are forced to find other environments to sustain them. This process is called migration; during this journey, herds generally merge into one large group. The great migration of wildebeest in the Serengeti is the best example of them combining at the start of the dry season to find greener pastures elsewhere.

Unlike most species of antelope, the common wildebeest starts its day with 'challenge rituals' among neighbors to maintain territorial statuses, lasting an average of around 7 minutes. Defecation and urination are used to spread scent and mark territory in addition to secretions produced by their pre-orbital glands. Oddly enough, battles between bulls over territory violations are uncommon, with the usual response simply a mysterious "duck and dodge" approach rather than going down on their knees and locking horns or chasing one another like other antelope species.

Blue or common wildebeests have strict mating times, and, as a result, birth times during the year are rigid. A distinct three-week birth peak is observed under favorable conditions. It gives offspring the best chance of survival. The first month of unprotected life outside the comfortable wombs of their mothers is critical, and those who make it past this threshold have a much higher chance of becoming adults. Their calls for courtship, courtship itself, and mating practices are very conventional and followed by a vulnerable 8 to 8.5 months of pregnancy before the first sight of their newly born calves. Females may conceive as young as one year and four months in favorable conditions.

Stotting, standing up straight or erecting their posture, and making snorting sounds are common anti-predator behaviors. When predators react aggressively or come too close for comfort, the wildebeest take the high road and runs for dear life. Lions, leopards, spotted hyenas, wild dogs, and crocodiles pose the greatest threat to adult wildebeest. Pythons and cheetahs torment adolescent or juvenile wildebeests in addition to adult threats. They are especially vulnerable in the first few weeks of their lives.