Musafir Wildebeest

Dear friends, hope you all are doing well, hope upcoming festivals will bring a bunch of blessings and happiness in our life. Do celebrate and follow your tradition but also ensure to take precautions while doing the same, a small mistake may turn into an invitation to an unwanted guest. Along with precaution, another important thing is to secure yourself with insurance to ensure your family is financially protected in case of an uncertain event.

After a piece of advice let us start the journey of wilderness, today I am introducing the animal which is common in the African region but it is absolutely uncommon or says unmatched with any other animal in the World. The lifecycle of this animal is such that it can go into pages still it is difficult to cover everything. I am very sure even with limited details you will enjoy this the most.

So now let me disclose the name, it is Wildebeest, some of you may not know about this animal as it is not found in India but after reading you will remember it forever. So to start with I will brief you about this animal and then we will explore the migration cycle, let us move to the next section to start the journey.

What's in a name

While the common name for this animal is the Wildebeest, its scientific name is Connochaetes taurinus. It is also referred to as a gnu (pronounced ‘g-new’)

In African countries, the animal known as gnu was given the nickname of Wildebeest. In English, this translates to Wild Beast. In England in 1823, a naturalist named William John Burchell was the world’s first to give a description of the Blue Wildebeest. The wildebeest’s scientific name was formed using two Greek words that help describe the animal’s physical appearance

Appearance & Behavior

The Wildebeest is not properly proportioned. The animal has a heavy front end but its hindquarters and legs are skinny. The wildebeest has a head shaped like a rectangle and broad shoulders

Not every wildebeest is the same color. Some have a light gray brush while others are a color closer to blue-gray. The darkest wildebeests are a gray-brown color. On their shoulders are dark brown stripes that cross their body vertically. Wildebeest have a black mane, which is thick and long. They have a long beard on their neck, which can be dark or pale

Wildebeests are animals that also have horns that curl away from their head. A male wildebeest has horns that are twice the size of a female wildebeest

Approximately 50% of a wildebeest’s life is spent resting. 33% of their life is dedicated to grazing and 12% of it is spent interacting with other wildebeest

Though wildebeest normally live with each other, they are also known to temporarily live with the zebras they encounter in the plains. This is because zebras will eat away the top layer of grass so that the wildebeest can get to what is underneath

The Diet

Due to their diet, wildebeests are always traveling. They constantly look for water (which they drink twice per day) and grass. When the weather is dry they graze on fresh grass and then travel back home before the rainy season begins

At the end of the rainy season, they return to the area and graze again. Because the wildebeest has a wide mouth they are able to eat a lot of grass very quickly. When grass isn’t freely growing, they search for shrubs and trees to eat

Fantastic facts

Wildebeest are animals that can run as fast as 50mph

The two main species are blue wildebeest and black wildebeest

The larger a wildebeest is the more vulnerable it is to its prey. To protect themselves, a group of wildebeest will come together and begin stomping the ground. They also let out loud calls to make sure the herd knows they are in danger

To attract a female they secrete and expel feces into their territory. If a male tries to enter their territory the wildebeest will fight for it. If a female enters, he will try to mate with her

Baby wildebeest are referred to as calves. Once baby wildebeest are born it only takes a few minutes before they can stand up and run

When they reach 10 days old they can begin eating grass. As soon as a male wildebeest is one year old they are able to go off on their own

As many as 500,000 wildebeest are born between February and March each year. This is when the rainy season begins in its natural habitat

The Great Migration

To understand the migration cycle better it is important that we know some details about this lovely animal hence I kept this section at the end. So let us start the migration with this Musafir

The funniest way to define migration is मैं अकेला ही चला था जानिब-ए-मंज़िल मगर लोग साथ आते गए और कारवाँ बनता गया. To some extent, Wildebeest migrates in a similar manner. They travel in millions together hence the title of this blog is “Musafir” because they keep migrating all through the year to different places

The Great Migration is the largest herd movement of animals on the planet. In fact, with up to 1,000 animals per km², the great columns of wildebeest can be seen from space

The numbers are astonishing: Over 1.2 million Wildebeest and 300,000 Zebra along with Topi and other Gazelle move in a constant cycle through the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in search of nutritious grass and water

Guided by survival instinct, each wildebeest will cover 800 to 1,000km on its individual journey along age-old migration routes

Hungry predators including Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Hyena, Wild dog and Crocs make sure only the strongest survive in this natural spectacle also known as ‘The Greatest show on Earth.’

The circuit takes the animals from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in the south of the Serengeti in Tanzania, up through the Serengeti and across into the Masai Mara in Kenya and back again

The journey is beset with danger: predators snatch young calves, the slow is brought down by a pride of lions, brave beasts break legs on steep river slopes, crocodiles take their share of the stragglers and the weak and exhausted drown

It is generally believed that their journey is dictated primarily by their response to the weather; they follow the rains and the growth of new grass

Some experts believe that the animals react to lightning and thunderstorms in the distance. It has even been suggested that wildebeest can locate rain more than 50km away

These are the reason why it is called “The Great Migration”, nothing in this world can beat this. Natural instinct and intelligence guide them to travel and go back to the original place which happens every year in the same manner, I would advise at least once in a lifetime you should witness this historical event

While ending the story leaving you with a snap shot that will help you to understand and connect the story in the best way

I hope you enjoyed every bit of it, please shower your blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, and in the end, do not forget to share feedback on btwildart@gmail.com