Connochaetes taurinus Shoulder height 130–150cm. Weight 180–250kg.
This ungainly antelope, also called the brindled gnu, is easily identified by its dark coat and bovine appearance. The superficially similar buffalo is far more heavily built. When they have enough space and conditions are right, blue wildebeest can multiply rapidly and form immense herds – as perhaps a million do for their annual migration from Tanzania's Serengeti Plains into Kenya's Masai Mara.

In Botswana during the middle of the 20th century they were probably the most numerous large herbivore, forming herds estimated at a quarter of a million individuals. Although they are still found throughout Botswana, these numbers have reduced drastically. (See the CKGR's Fauna section, page 435, for further discussion of this.)

Wildebeest are best adapted to take large mouthfuls of short, nutritious grasses, and they need access to drinking water every two or three days. This limits them to remain relatively close to a source of water, and if that dries up they will journey as far as necessary to find another.