Wildebeest The wildebeest ( , , plural wildebeest, wildebai, or wildebeests, wildebeesties (juv)), also called the gnu ( ) is an antelope of the genus "Connochaetes". "Wildebeest" is Dutch for "wild beast" or "wild cattle" in Afrikaans ("bees" "cattle"), while "Connochaetes" derives from the Greek words κόννος, "kónnos", "beard", and χαίτη, "khaítē", "flowing hair", "mane". Some sources claim the name "gnu" originates from the Khoikhoi name for these animals, "t'gnu". Others contend the name and its pronunciation in English go back to the word "!nu:" used for the black wildebeest by the San people. The wildebeest, genus "Connochaetes", is placed under
Wildebeest the family Bovidae and subfamily Alcelaphinae, where its closest relatives are the hartebeest ("Alcelaphus" spp.), the hirola ("Beatragus hunteri"), and species in the genus "Damaliscus", such as the topi, the tsessebe, the blesbok and the bontebok. The name "Connochaetes" was given by German zoologist Hinrich Lichtenstein in 1812. Dutch settlers first discovered wildebeest in about 1700, on their way to the interior of South Africa. Due to their resemblance to wild cattle, these people called them "wild ox" or "wildebeest". The blue wildebeest was first known to westerners in the northern part of South Africa a century later, in the