Wildebeest - Connochaetes
taurinus
Wildebeest are sedentary in
areas like, Moremi where there is an abuncance of food and water
but in arid areas they are forced to migrate seasonally.
Wildebeest are territorial and highly
gregarious. Breeding herds are attended by a bull while the other
males form bachelor herds. Older bulls leave the bachelor herds.
The Kalahari's wildebeest herds were
decimated inthe droughts of the 1980's. Veterenary fences were erected
to control the spread of foot and mouth disease among cattle, and
some of these fences cut across traditional wildebeest migratory
routes preventing them from reaching the water of the Boteti river.
Wildebeest have now been removed from the hunting list to allow
their population numbers to recover. Their numbers were not as badly
affected north of the buffalo fence where they can be commonly sighted
in Moremi and Chobe.
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