Wildebeest of her own, "Nelly Gnu and Daddy Too". Wildebeest Wildebeests, also called gnus, are antelopes in the genus Connochaetes. They belong to the family Bovidae, which includes antelopes, cattle, goats, sheep, and other even-toed horned ungulates. "Connochaetes" includes two species, both native to Africa: the black wildebeest or white-tailed gnu ("C. gnou"), and the blue wildebeest or brindled gnu ("C. taurinus"). Fossil records suggest these two species diverged about one million years ago, resulting in a northern and a southern species. The blue wildebeest remained in its original range and changed very little from the ancestral species, while the black
Wildebeest be the increasing competition between cattle and wildebeest for a diminishing area of grazing land as a result of changes in agricultural practices, and possibly fluctuations in rainfall. Each year, some East African populations of blue wildebeest have a long-distance migration, seemingly timed to coincide with the annual pattern of rainfall and grass growth. The timing of their migrations in both the rainy and dry seasons can vary considerably (by months) from year to year. At the end of the wet season (May or June in East Africa), wildebeest migrate to dry-season areas in response to a lack of surface