We saw massive herds of gnus (or wildebeest, whichever you prefer) in
Ndutu and they have been described as being animals made up of left-over spare parts. Goofy looking to us or not, the design clearly works for them as every year millions of them migrate from the
Maasai Mara to the
Serengeti.
For several days we were surrounded by thousands of these fellows every time we left the lodge and every single creature that could eat them was doing very well for themselves. Some fell prey to cheetahs or hyenas, others had died of sickness and a great many had gotten stuck in the mud of a nearby lake and drowned. But gnus succeed by sheer volume and despite the individual losses, the herds were massive and healthy.
They were starting to give birth in the last day we were there so we saw a few babies but not as many as were to come. Gnus give birth all at once and once again simply overwhelm predators with numbers that cannot be dented by any hunting. The babies we saw were less than 5 hours old and were already dry and learning to run so there's certainly a steep learning curve to being a gnu.
For several days we were surrounded by thousands of these fellows every time we left the lodge and every single creature that could eat them was doing very well for themselves. Some fell prey to cheetahs or hyenas, others had died of sickness and a great many had gotten stuck in the mud of a nearby lake and drowned. But gnus succeed by sheer volume and despite the individual losses, the herds were massive and healthy.
They were starting to give birth in the last day we were there so we saw a few babies but not as many as were to come. Gnus give birth all at once and once again simply overwhelm predators with numbers that cannot be dented by any hunting. The babies we saw were less than 5 hours old and were already dry and learning to run so there's certainly a steep learning curve to being a gnu.
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