Blue Wildebeest | Online Record Book Preview

Connochaetes taurinus taurinus

Nu azul (Sp), Streifengnu (G), Gnou bleu (F), Blouwildebees (Af). Nearly everyone calls it "blue wildebeest," though it is not actually blue (but in some lights its color could be interpreted as bluish gray). Also called black-bearded wildebeest.

DESCRIPTION The general color is dark silvery gray with a brown tinge. The beard is black.

DISTRIBUTION Southern Angola, western Zambia, northern and eastern Namibia, most of Botswana, western and southern Zimbabwe, and parts of Mozambique south of the Zambezi.

Formerly widespread in South Africa north of the Orange and Vaal Rivers; however, they were shot out by early European settlers except for relic populations in northwestern Cape Province and northern and eastern Transvaal, and game reserves in northern Natal. But today they are widely re-established on private ranches in all parts of South Africa, so the extent of their distribution (though not their absolute numbers) probably exceeds what existed before Europeans arrived.