Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"

This time I have for you a portrait of one of the weirdest of Africa's antelopes! It is a Black Wildebeest, also known as a White-tailed Gnu (and permutations of black/white-tailed and wildebeest/gnu). Its scientific name is Connochaetes gnu, and it shares its genus with the Blue Wildebeest. It used to be placed on its own in the genus Gorgon to highlight its weirdness, but it is actually not that different from the blue … indeed, hybrids between the two species can form.

Weirdness in Face and Figure

My portrait highlights the strange face of this creature. First of all, there's the horns. Both sexes carry them, though those of the bull are somewhat larger. The horns have a thickened, boss-like base, from which they curve forward and upward. They are wickedly sharp, and deadly when thrust forward and upward with the powerful neck. A narrow, stiff and upright mane at the back of the neck makes it look even thicker. The hairs of this mane are dull, buffy white at the base and black at the tips. There is also a brush of upright-standing hairs on the bridge of the nose. The nose is very broad at the front, with flaps of flesh around the nostrils. There are whiskers at the side of the nose, and below the face there is a black beard. These brush-like hairs around the face have a serious purpose. The wildebeest has a gland in front of each eye that releases a scented fluid that flows from the eyes down into the beard and also by capillary action up into the brush on the snout, from where the scent wafts into the air, advertising the animal's presence. Dominant bulls are especially pungent. On my portrait you also see the very long, white eyelashes … I haven't come across an explanation for these in any of my reference books, and also not all the animals on the reference photos I've used, have them … but enough of them do have these amazing long eyelashes that it can be considered a feature.

The rest of the body is also unusual, though not as much as the face. The forequarters are powerful, and the beard below the throat continues onto the chest as a lengthened tuft of hair that goes back to about the mid-belly. With the mane on the neck and the hairs on the face, this makes the forequarters look very big and deep. Compared with this, the hindquarters of the wildebeest look almost puny; the back slopes down from the tall shoulder hump, the belly is rarely fat, and the hind legs are thin, but muscular at the haunches. The hindquarters are covered in short but dense hairs. Finally, the tail is again extravagant: from the short, dark base it is tipped with very long, straight, white hairs. This white tail gives it its alternative name. It is used as a conspicuous signal in displays.

Black wildebeests are fairly large antelopes, the bull reaching 400 lbs in weight, the cow about 350 lbs. This makes them slightly smaller than the blue wildebeest. They live on open, grassy plains or on subdesert shrubland. This species is confined to South Africa and our two small included-neighbour countries, Lesotho and Swaziland.

A Tragedy Averted

The black wildebeest very nearly shared the fate of the Quagga which you can read about in the entry on the Common Zebra. These wildebeests lived in the same kind of country as the quagga did, and shared a similar lifestyle. Migrating freely in large herds over this range, they didn't take kindly to their range being fragmented by farms and to having to compete with livestock for grazing. They were also shot in vast numbers for their meat and for their skins. In addition to this, they were also hit by disease outbreaks. By the time anyone started taking note of their numbers dwindling, it was almost too late. The government of the time had little sympathy and the conservation of this unique antelope came down to a number of small land-owners. At their nadir they perhaps numbered as little as 550 animals. The last herds were enclosed and from then bred as semi-domestic animals. Though their numbers recovered, it is doubtful whether at present it could be considered a wild or natural species; the original wildebeests might very well have had behaviours that died out along with their natural and free way of life. For a big example, they can't migrate any more the way they used to. Nevertheless, they do now occur on many large game reserves and farms. But to restore them as truly close-to-wild creatures, they would need again access to the full range over which they used to occur, with the presence of predators and competing grazers, and with the absence of fences hindering their movements. This indeed would amount to a fairly large-scale 're-wilding' of the central South African landscape, and cannot happen without large-scale co-operation of land owners as well as the government. Still, it is not an impossible dream, and can indeed happen in the future if and when the will is there. At least we still have them, so there's hope for such a project.

The New Gnu

In days of yore, black wildebeests had a very specific migratory regimen. In the South African interior, the typical pattern is one of long droughts followed by short rain seasons. In some years especially good rains fall, and the desert erupts into leaf and flower. Black wildebeests chased the rains into the dry Karroo region, spending the summer there grazing on fresh grass as well as browsing many sprouting herbs and low shrubs. Then as the summer ends and the veld dries out, they would migrate back to the higher, moister grasslands towards the east. They would seek out shorter, more open grass, disliking tall or dense grassland.

It is this migratory system which has completely broken down as a result of human land use. Present-day black wildebeests are consequently stuck in the same regions year-round, irrespective of whether it is too dry and the food too scarce, or too moist leading to the grass growing too tall. They themselves also have an effect on the veld quality, because they often become too abundant in one particular place, overgrazing and trampling, causing the vegetation to deteriorate.

Nevertheless, the gnus worked out new ways and are indeed now flourishing under game farm conditions. They set up three different social units: first, the cow herd; second, the territorial bulls; third, the bull herd. Cow herds are the largest units and consist of cows and their offspring. These cow herds move freely over large regions, into and out of the territory of different territorial bulls. Outside the rutting season, the bulls let them come and go, but when the season arrives, the territorial bulls will try and keep cow herds within their own territories. Only the territorial bulls that manage to 'win' and keep females get to mate. The non-territorial bulls roam around widely, but don't get access to females. Inside this bachelor-bull herd, there's a remarkable absence of aggression between the bulls. They stick together for the sake of mutual safety. Lastly, territorial bulls remain on their own bits of turf. They mark this territory by defecating and urinating, and spreading their scent from their facial glands as well as glands in between their hooves.

On occasion one of the non-territorial bulls will decide to challenge a bull with a territory. Because of their extremely dangerous horns, black wildebeests have developed very sophisticated challenging and appeasement ritual displays. A bull moving through a territory without intending to take it over, will hold his head low and graze, or act as if it is grazing. A challenging bull will approach with head held high. Bulls will try to psych each other out prior to actually fighting: this consists of prancing around and kicking backwards with their legs; tossing their heads and swishing their tails; pawing the ground or kneeling and ferociously attacking the ground with their horns; rolling in the ground; and giving the territorial call, 'ge-nou', for which they were given their name. When one bull comes to the conclusion that it is the weaker, it will back off. If things go to the point of a fight, they will kneel and first push their heads together so that the rounded lower parts of their horns meet each other or the thick, basal horn-bosses on their foreheads; from here they can wrestle and push each other around without seriously injuring each other, until one conclusively proves itself the superior of the other. If the challenger triumphs, the original territory owner will move out and try to join one of the roaming bull herds.

Although today they don't face large predators like lions or hyenas, the black wildebeests are still very wary animals. Living on flat, open plains, they can see far and wide around them, and don't let themselves be approached very closely. Their various weird features are all made to render them highly visible from a long way off, and are emphasized by their stiff-legged capering and frolicking behaviour. This also serves to make them appear alert, strong and dangerous to any observing predator. Sadly, this is no protection against humans with rifles.

The breeding season for these beests start in late summer or early autumn. Pregnant females carry their calves for about eight and a half months, so that the calves are born early the next summer. Calves are quite different in colour from the adults, with a light tawny-brown coat. Their legs are extremely long for their size, and they can keep up with running adults from the outset. The cow is very attached to her calf … until it is about a year old, when she chases it away. At this point it can remain in the cow herd for a while longer, or go out to seek a new herd. Bulls tend to join bachelor herds; they're only eligible for becoming territory-owners at the age of four years.

On the open plains, these antelopes often have to face adverse conditions. Summer days can get swelteringly hot, and on the grassy Highveld or the dry Karroo there are rarely any trees or anything else that can provide shade. The dense, dark fur protects their skins against the sun. In extreme heat they will lie down and only become active again when it cools down; typically they can spend more of the day in action in the winter than in the summer. But winters in the South African interior can get very cold, with snow being common in the higher-lying regions. Very heavy thunderstorms happen during most summers; the wildebeests weather these by turning their backs towards the direction the rain's coming from, but often just keep on grazing. But heavy winds appear to unnerve them. Intense and widespread grass-fires occur in some years, but the robust beests can avoid or outrun these.

Today as I've said, black wildebeests only occur on farms or nature reserves, and mainly in the Orange Free State, which naturally is covered in well-developed grassland. They don't do well in confined places such as zoos, becoming aggressive and belligerent. They've been introduced into some regions where naturally they did not occur, and sometimes when encountering blue wildebeests, will mate with them, resulting in hybrids. This would not occur in the original natural scheme of things since the two species have different habitat needs and inhabit different regions. These hybrids can pose some threat to the genetic integrity of black wildebeests. But generally they are well-managed and with over a dozen thousand individuals, the species is reasonably safe against extinction. But for me, personally, this is not enough: I really would want for this species to be able to be truly wild again, and have a decent share of this country in which to roam as it did once before.

Colours of Wildlife Archive

Willem

27.11.17 Front Page

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