|
"At night wildebeest are
said to settle down in columns i.e. a line one after the other. Given
you can not drive round Etosha at night I can not confirm this. Why do
they do it? - the theory is that columns allow you to stay as a group
but you can get up and run away fast without bumping into each other."
"Namibia
has one native wildebeest, the blue wildebeest which is also called the
brindled gnu. This is the same species as its northern cousin the white
bearded wildebeest that occurs in East Africa. Just to make life
confusing many of the game farms have the other species of wildebeest
which is not native to Namibia. This is the black wildebeest also known
as the white tailed gnu. A smaller, smarter animal. If you are trying to
remember which name matches which gnu then avoid using the blue and
black. Blue is just a silly name. Blue is very rare amongst mammals. How
many blue mammals can you name? Many blue wildebeest look pretty black,
especially the males on a sunny day under a dark tree. Brindled
(referring to the brown streaks down the neck) and white tailed are much
more of a ‘what you see is what they are’ name." |
