BLUE WILDEBEEST The thoroughly African savannah antelope

Sure, the wildebeest is no oil painting and sorely lacks the looks, the proud carriage, and the majestic horns of many of its African savannah counterparts. Nevertheless, it epitomises just that – the true African savannah – more than any other antelope! The characteristic grunts and snorts, the (almost) ceaseless activities of herd bulls tending their harem herds of cows and calves or a lone bull, motionless under an umbrella thorn on dust-blown open plains, and even the ever-present flies in their incessant search for some moisture around its head, make the wildebeest one of a kind.

Wildebeest count among the larger of the antelope, with bulls measuring roughly 150cm at the shoulder and with a mass of 250kg, while the cows are slightly smaller, measuring 135cm at the shoulder and weighing about 230kg. They are higher at the shoulder than at their hindquarters. Both sexes have horns with those of the bull heavier than those of the female. Within two months after birth, the horn buds appear and initially grow out as two straight spikes. Towards the