Blue wildebeest is placed in the family Bovidae, ruminant animals with cloven hooves. The generic name "Connochaetes" derives from the Greek words κόννος, kónnos, "beard", and χαίτη, khaítē, "flowing hair", "mane". The specific name "taurinus" originates from the Greek word "tauros", which means a bull or bullock. The common name "blue wildebeest" refers to the conspicuous, silvery-blue sheen of the coat, while the alternative name "gnu" originates from the name for these animals used by the Khokloi people, a native pastoralist people of southwestern Africa. Though the blue and black wildebeest are currently classified in the same genus, the latter was previously
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