Description

Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) — Also known as the brindled gnu, the Blue Wildebeest is a large antelope found across southern and eastern Africa’s open plains and savannas. Its name comes from the bluish-gray sheen of its coat, accentuated by dark vertical stripes along the shoulders and flanks. Males are larger and darker than females, with robust, outward-curving horns and heavy necks.

Weighing up to 290 kg and standing around 1.45 m at the shoulder, C. taurinus is a highly migratory grazer that follows seasonal rains and fresh grasses. Herds numbering in the hundreds of thousands undertake the great Serengeti–Mara migration each year, one of the planet’s most dramatic wildlife spectacles.

This species has survived intense climatic shifts and predation pressures since the Pleistocene and remains one of Africa’s most ecologically influential herbivores.