Blue wildebeest

Connochaetes taurinus, 1908

About the object

According to African legend, God fashioned the gnu (wildebeest) out of leftover parts. This grey brown antelope, almost as large as a horse, is endowed with a broad, black face with a curved nose and a broad muzzle suited to browsing grass. Their forequarters are bulky whereas the withers are only slightly taller than the lower back. The hindquarters and the limbs are relatively slight in relation to the rest of the body. Both sexes have a beard and a main, as well as a pair of horns that extend outwards to the side and then curve upward and inward.

The annual migration of wildebeests across the Serengeti plains belongs to one of the most spectacular events of the animal world. It is one of the last remaining mass migrations of large hooved animals. Hundreds of thousands of zebras and gazelles join over a million wildebeests on their way to seek the lush grass plains of East Africa. The rainy season in equatorial Africa shifts from North to South according to the time of year. The rain encourages plentiful plant growth in the savannah, which lures the great herds of grazers who seek it out. During January and February, Wildebeests give birth to calves in the south of the Serengeti National Park. Following the rains and the growth of grass, they then migrate clockwise northwards as far as the Masai-Mara in southern Kenya whereupon, at the start of the rainy season, they make their return south. The wildebeests follow the rain and grass, whereas predators, such as big cats and crocodiles, prefer to lie in wait for these migrating ungulates rather than follow in pursuit.