- New
Blue Wildebeest
Connochaetes taurinus
Overview
They have a pale grey or brown coat with dark stripes across their neck, shoulders, and chest. Blue wildebeest have a long black tail and a long black mane, which either stands up or drapes over the neck depending on the subspecies. The beard trailing under the neck is white. The species is sexually dimorphic, with males being larger than females, but both males and females have distinctive, L-shaped horns.
They stand 1.23m to 1.65m tall at the shoulder, are 1.7m to 2.4m long and weigh between 165kg and 290kg. Females on the other hand are 1.14m to 1.42m tall at the shoulder, 1.75m to 2.15m long and weigh 140kg to 260kg.
- Found in
- Africa
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Bovidae
- Genus
- Connochaetes
Conservation Status
Blue wildebeest are considered a species of Least Concern. However, they face various conservation challenges: habitat fragmentation due to agriculture and urban development disrupts their traditional migratory routes, compounded by climate change-influenced rainfall patterns limiting grazing and water resources. Disease transmission from domestic livestock, particularly rinderpest, has also had devastating impacts. Poaching and competition with livestock for grazing areas pose further challenges outside of protected areas.
One of the most significant conservation successes was the eradication of rinderpest through coordinated veterinary campaigns. Conservation initiatives have helped protect and preserve critical habitats and migration corridors, and promoted coexistence and sustainable land use to local communities. Reintroduction and translocation efforts have reestablished populations in several areas.
These combined efforts have stabilised and, in some regions, increased blue wildebeest numbers.
- Wild Population
- 1,550,000
- Conservation Status
- Least concern
Animal Facts
- Blue wildebeest are so named because their coat has a blue sheen to it.
- Blue wildebeest are known to migrate over 1600 kilometres every year and cross 2 rivers to do so.
- Up to 90% of blue wildebeest offspring are all born within a 2 week birthing period.
- Blue wildebeest are often seen in herds with plains zebra. The two species don’t compete for food though, because zebras prefer long grass and wildebeest can then graze on the shorter grasses.
- Not all blue wildebeest migrate; some female groups form closely bonded resident herds and remain in the same area year round.
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Social & Reproduction
In the wild, blue wildebeest congregate in large herds comprised of several subgroups of related females and their offspring, bachelor herds of young males and dominant bulls guarding a territory within the herd’s foraging grounds.
During the breeding season, which spans over a three week period at the end of the wet season, dominant territorial bulls will track fertile females moving through and feeding in their range. While receptive females are nearby, they will barely eat or sleep. Males may also engage in so-called lekking behaviour, gathering in all-male groups to display to females with sparring and vocalisations. A male outcompeting his rivals in a lek secures mating rights to nearby females. He will then mount a receptive female and mate with her several times. She will remain close to him after mating, and he will prevent other males from approaching her. This way, he may gather a harem of females during the breeding season, although leks and harems will fragment soon after the breeding season to reform into bachelor and yearling herds again.
Following a pregnancy of around 8.5 months, the female gives birth to a single calf. It will feed exclusively off her milk until it is 4 weeks old, which is when it will start eating grasses. Calves are weaned by 8 to 10 months of age, at which time the mother is likely to already be pregnant again. Soon after, the yearling will leave their mother’s female group and join a herd of other yearlings or young adults.
Female blue wildebeest reach sexual maturity at 16 months old, males at 2 years old, though it may take a few years until their horns develop enough for them to defend a territory or claim victory in a lek in order to mate.