SEPTEMBER 2006 



Wildebees 



of the Sereneeti 



Migrating in great numbers, the signature antelope 



of the African savanna must dodge predators, drought, and 



human development. On the side, it shapes its own habitat. 



By Richard D. Estes 



I often write, as I do here, on behalf of the 

 wildebeest, or gnu: an antelope often por- 

 trayed as a homely, clownish creature put to- 

 gether out of spare parts. In fact, from a biolog- 

 ical and ecological standpoint, the animal is a 

 "keystone" species, one that has shaped and dom- 

 inated its ecosystem, the semiarid savannas of 

 eastern and southern Africa, for probably more 

 than a million years. 



But from the human perspective, the wilde- 

 beest may still need a champion; the lion, after 

 all, is "king," and even among the herbivores, the 

 elephant and the giraffe cut more dramatic fig- 

 ures. And so, because the wildebeest has been 

 the main focus of my field studies for four 

 decades, I feel the duty and enjoy the privilege 

 of representing the species to my own kind. For 

 the past twenty-five years I have published the 

 Cmtslcttcr of the Antelope Specialist Group of 

 the World Conservation Union. Had I been 

 among the early people who hunted and gath- 

 ered on the African savannas, I'm sure the wilde- 



beest would have been my totem, and I would 

 have drawn pictures of it on cave walls. 



The term "wildebeest" actually refers to two 

 species, Connochaetes taurinus and C.grtou, thought 

 to have split from a common ancestor at least a 

 million years ago. Biologists also recognize five 

 distinct subspecies of C. taiiiiims [sec map on pave 

 31]. Of all the wildebeests, only the western 

 white-bearded wildebeest, C. t. mearnsi, still thrives 

 in the immense migratory herds that are the 

 hallmark of wildebeest adaptation. An estimated 

 1.25 million animals range across Tanzania's 

 Sercngeti National Park and adjacent regions, 

 most migrating some 300 miles a year. 



Unfortunately, all the other major wildebeest 

 populations have crashed.The chief reason is that 

 the ever-expanding human population, with its 

 demand for land for agriculture and domestic 

 livestock, has been interfering with the wilde- 

 beests' seasonal movements. In 1983, tor in- 

 stance, between 50,000 and 80,000 wildebeests 

 perished when a fence blocked their escape from 



28 NATUIXAI HISTORY September 2006 



