Wildebeests travel in large groups, though some smaller herds do remain nomadic. Male wildebeests will often stand on a mound, watching over the herd and on the look-out for predators.
When a predator is spotted, they use loud, deep calling sounds to alert the herd. Once an alarm call is heard, the wildebeests begin to stamp and gather.
In a chase they can run at a speed of up to 80 km per hour. Their large numbers are their greatest defense, herds can consist of some wildebeests at their largest. Stampeding wildebeests are hard to hunt and getting caught in the force of a stampede could be dangerous for a predator. Wildebeests migrate long distances to find food. The annual rainfall patterns set their migration course through the savannas and grasslands of Africa.
Their nomadic lifestyle allows them to forage all year, finding the nutrients they need to reproduce and rear their calves. They also need to be close to water reserves, which dry up during the dry season, leaving them vulnerable to dehydration and death. By moving to areas with wetter conditions they avoid this. They migrate most in the months of May and June, covering distances between and miles.
Wildebeests move in large herds that are joined by other migrating species like zebras, other antelopes, elephants, and giraffes. Aggregations of up to 1. This way they ensure the animal gets all the nutrients its body has evolved to need, and the animal grows up healthy and fit.
Overfeeding is a common problem in zoos and should be avoided. Wildebeests feed on grasses and succulents in the wild, this simple and herbivorous diet is easy to maintain in zoos. The introduction of wildebeest into captivity is recent, and few zoos have wildebeest. The issue with raising wildebeests in captivity is that they are migratory animals.
In zoos they have a largely sedentary lifestyle, which does not suit the animal. Wildebeests are ruminants. They have specially adapted stomachs with four compartments, the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. Grasses and other graze are low in nutrients and have a high cellulose content. Most animals cannot survive on a purely herbivorous diet as their stomachs cannot breakdown the cellulose.
Traversing across the short-grass plains, wildebeest approach Lake Victoria in the west. They head toward open woodland, then curve north en route for the Mara. Lastly, they take a turn to the south toward home. They are single-minded in their pursuit, swimming across bodies of water in such massive numbers that many die, become injured, or are lost particularly calves. Although wildebeest are unable to adequately camouflage themselves, they are afforded some protection by gathering in large herds.
Territorial males, however, are constantly prepared to mate. Throughout the mating season, breeding clusters of around wildebeest form from within the bigger herds. In these groupings, five or six of the most dominant bulls create and guard territories that cows amble through.
Bulls make a show of bucking and cantering around their lands. Bulls also mark their territories by urinating, defecating and spreading secretions in particular areas. The secretions come from the interdigital and preorbital glands, spread when bulls paw at the ground and proceed to rub it with their heads. When a bull comes into contact with another wildebeest, they acknowledge one another by moving at a rocking canter. If they are greeting a cow, the bull will attempt to mount or herd her. If the cow is calm, the bull will repeatedly mate with her about two times per minute.
If her herd is mobile, a cow may come across several dozen bulls a day. If she is in full heat, a bull will always be close to her side.
During the mating season, wildebeest are quite a bit more riled—herding, fighting, and calling to each other frequently. An aroused bull will try to herd as many cows as possible, and will not sleep or eat for excitement if a female is nearby. Females typically reach sexual maturity at 16 months, though they frequently do not mate until around 28 months old. Cows are extremely fertile, conceiving at a high rate, in part because the peak of their breeding season is at the end of the rainy season, anticipating a fair climate for carrying offspring.
Gestation is 8 to 8. Wildebeest are unique from other African animals in that they calve within the same short span of time, during the month before or start of peak rainy season. Female wildebeest give birth to one calf in the center of the herd, rather than finding an isolated place, as many antelope species do.
Astoundingly, around 80 percent of females in a herd give birth within the same two to three weeks. The overabundance of calves allows for more of them to survive predation in the first vulnerable weeks of their lives. Once a calf is delivered, the mother begins to lick it. After six minutes, the calf is able to stand on its feet and attempts to be nursed.
It is very important that the mother stays close to her newborn for the first two days in order to assure that the calf imprints on its mother, which begins with the first suckling.
Newborns are a yellowish-brown, but change to adult color at about 2 months. A calf suckles from its mother for at least four months, though it begins eating grass after about 10 days. Young females usually remain in the same herds as their mothers, while males are sent away. At 8 months, the young leave their mothers and form peer groups. Photo Credit: Thuto Moutloatse. See Wildebeest on These African Safaris. Male wildebeest mature at 3 — 4 years and females at 2 — 3 years.
When the males mature, they will set up their territories which they mark with faeces and secretions emitted from their face and hoofs. They defend it from other males and attempt to mate with females entering their areas. Mating activity is seasonal and is usually timed so that the majority of calves are born close to the beginning of the rainy season when new grass is plentiful. Up to , calves are born in February and March each year, at the beginning of the rainy season. A single calf is born after a gestation period of 8 and a half months each year.
Unlike other antelopes, the female does not need to give birth in a secluded location, she will give birth in the centre of the herd if need be. Calves can stand and run within minutes of being born but they must move with their mothers to have any chance of surviving as they are very vulnerable to lions, cheetahs, wild dogs and hyenas.
Calves are suckled by their mothers for 6 months although they are able to eat grass after 10 days. Males leave the herd when they are one year old to form groups of bachelors.
Wildebeests are abundant and although numbers have increased in the Serengeti, numbers have declined in other areas such as south west Botswana due to competition with livestock. The destruction of crops have prompted farmers to kill wildebeests and also set up long fences to prevent the animals from migrating to wetlands when there are seasonal droughts. Continuing survival is dependant on conservation efforts.
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