The Gnu's World: Serengeti Wildebeest Ecology and Life History

About this book

This is the first scholarly book on the antelope that dominates the savanna ecosystems of eastern and southern Africa. It presents a synthesis of research conducted over a span of fifty years mainly on the wildebeest in the Ngorongoro and Serengeti ecosystems where eighty percent of the worlds wildebeest population lives. Wildebeest and other grazing mammals drive the ecology and evolution of the savanna ecosystem. Richard D. Estes describes this process and also details the wildebeests life history focusing on its social organization and unique reproductive system which are adapted to the animals epic annual migrations. He also examines conservation issues that affect wildebeest including range-wide population declines.