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Black Wildebeest

 
Animal Encyclopedia: Black wildebeest

Connochaetes gnou

TAXONOMY

Antilope gnou (Zimmerman, 1780), Cape Province, South Africa. Monotypic.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

English: White-tailed gnu; French: Gnou à queue blanche; German: Weißschwanzgnu; Spanish: Nu negro.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Body length 5.6–7.3 ft (170–220 cm); shoulder height 3–4 ft (90–120 cm); tail 2.6–3.3 ft (80–100 cm); 242–396 lb (110–180 kg), female smaller than male. Horns 18–31 in (45–78 cm). Dark brown to black, males darker than females. Both have lighter coats in summer and heavier coats in winter. Bristly mane stands up on neck and is cream to white, with black tips. Beard is black.

DISTRIBUTION

East-central South Africa, mainly eastern northern Cape and Free State: formerly central Cape Province to Natal and southern Transvaal.

HABITAT

Open plains, formerly in Karoo (arid shrublands) and grassland.

BEHAVIOR

Females and young form closely knit herds with a distinct hierarchy; males form bachelor groups. Territorial conflicts involve ritualized posturing and horn wrestling, accompanied by a blaring "ge-nu" call. Possibly originally had extensive movements or migrations, now restricted by fencing.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Primarily a grazer, preferring short grasses; in winter, also browses on karroid bushes.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Polygynous. The primary mating season is February–April. Gestation period 8–8.5 months; calves are born in November–January. Young weaned after four months. Females sexually mature at 1.5–2.5 years, males at three years. Lifespan up to 20 years.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Lower Risk/Conservation Dependent. No truly wild animals remain, all being descended from captive individuals.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

These animals were almost exterminated by white settlers, who viewed them as pests, and also valued their tails, which they used as fly swats.

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Wikipedia: Black Wildebeest
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Black Wildebeest
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Alcelaphinae
Genus: Connochaetes
Species: C. gnou
Binomial name
Connochaetes gnou
(Zimmermann, 1780)

The Black Wildebeest or White-tailed Gnu (Connochaetes gnou) is one of two wildebeest species. The natural populations of this species, endemic to the southern part of Africa, have been almost completely exterminated, but the species has been reintroduced widely, both in private areas and nature reserves throughout most of Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa, Namibia and Kenya. It was also introduced outside its natural range (Wilson & Reeder, 1993; East, 1989, 1996).[Full citation needed]

The primal herds were exterminated, being seen as pests, with the secondary advantage of using the hides and meat. Thus this animal exists primarily in herds derived from captive specimens.

Its preferred habitat types are grassveld savanna and Karoo of the central South Africa plateau (Lynch, 1983; von Richter, 1974).[Full citation needed]

The one other species of genus Connochaetes is the Blue Wildebeest, which has a more northerly range.

References in literature

In his biographical book Beasts in My Belfry, naturalist, zookeeper, and author Gerald Durrell devotes a chapter to his experiences with this species.

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Copyrights:

Animal Encyclopedia. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2005 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Black Wildebeest" Read more