Wildebeest "The Great Space Coaster" (newscaster Gary Gnu), and "The Lion King" (the wildebeest stampede that resulted in Mufasa's death). Michael Flanders wrote a humorous song called "The Gnu", which was very popular when he performed it, with Donald Swann, in a revue called "At the Drop of a Hat", which opened in London on 31 December 1956. The wildebeest is the mascot of the GNU Project and GNU operating system. In the "Llama Llama" picture-book series by Anna Dewdney, an anthropomorphized wildebeest named Nelly Gnu is the main character, Llama Llama's best friend, and is also featured in a title
Wildebeest 1800s. In the early 20th century, one species of the wildebeest, "C. albojubatus", was identified in eastern Africa. In 1914, two separate races of the wildebeest were introduced, namely "Gorgon a. albojubatus" ("Athi white-bearded wildebeest") and "G. a. mearnsi" ("Loita white-bearded wildebeest"). However, in 1939, the two were once again merged into a single race, "Connochaetes taurinus albojubatus". In the mid-20th century, two separate forms were recognised, "Gorgon taurinus hecki" and "G. t. albojubatus". Finally, two distinct types of wildebeest – the blue and black wildebeest – were identified. The blue wildebeest was at first placed under a separate genus,