Wednesday, April 27, 2016

A-Z Blog Challenge: W is for Wildebeest

Every time I get fed up with pay TV and decide to get rid of it the same thing happens. I suddenly discover something fascinating and decide to keep it. The main reason I got Foxtel in the first place was because at the time we were having trouble getting clear pictures from the only two free to air channels I ever watch ABC and SBS. That has long since been sorted out but it also meant I had access to Foxtel sports and, since we are avid Aussie Rules watchers and I like Foxtel's coverage, I've kept it.

That's not the only reason, though. I do like programs about nature and there are some excellent documentaries on Foxtel - which is where I saw a doco on the great wildebeest migration.

Wildebeests or gnus are antelopes that come into the category of having faces only a mother could love - they have been described as looking like they are made up of leftover bits of other animals - but they are beautifully designed for their herbivorous life style. There are two species - the blue (the majority of wildebeests) and the black. They are large and very strong - an adult can even injure an attacking lion, these being one of their main predators along with cheetahs and hunting dogs.

Most - but not all - wildebeest travel in huge herds following new grass. In the case of the wildebeest of the Masai Mara and Serengeti, this leads them to make one of the great migrations of the animal world as they travel between 800 and 1,600 kilometres from the south eastern Serengeti west towards Lake Victoria then north to the Mara region and return. They often move in long spread out strings as well as groups. Driven by the need to move for food they let nothing stop them moving forward. This includes swimming crocodile infested rivers and lakes often in such a crush of bodies that animals (particularly calves) are drowned while the crocodiles seize any stragglers. It's both breathtaking and horrifying to watch.

6 comments:

Nilanjana Bose said...

Horrifying but fascinating too! Have watched it on docus both on big and small screens, would like to witness it live someday. Here from the A-Z and wish you all the best.

Nilanjana.
Ninja Minion, A-Z 2016
Madly-in-Verse

Helen V. said...

Hi Nilanjana Bose. Nice of you to drop by. I had a look at your blog. I love the way the Challenge introduces us to blogs we would not otherwise come across.

Jo said...

Bit like some of the migrations that take place on this continent Helen. No crocodiles but endless other predators.

Satima Flavell said...

Nature, red in tooth and claw...

Those long migrations undertaken by herd animals are awe inspiring. Likewise the migration of birds, sometimes over thousands of kilometres.

Helen V. said...

I guess all migratory species have predators and hazards to negotiate, Jo.

Helen V. said...

They are awe inspiring, Satima. We're lucky, too, that the birds keep coming here to escape the northern winter. Now all we have to do is to stop our politicians from allowing the wetlands they depend on from being destroyed.