Wildebeest seem to be appearing in many colors lately. Two weeks ago we posted a guest's sighting of a rare 'white wildebeest' spotted in Kenya (more about that here). This week Geoff Calmeyer from Roar Africa shared his sandy-colored Wildebeest spotted in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. Impossible? Not at all.
Wildebeest (from Afrikaans "wild cattle") or Gnu (from the Khoikhoi "Gnou"), come in two species: Black and Blue. They differ in a number of ways but primarily in horn curvature and, not surprisingly, color. Colors can vary quite significantly. Blue Wildebeest tend to be a dark grey color with stripes, but may have a shiny blue color. There are five Blue Wildebeest sub species. The Black Wildebeest has brown colored fur with a mane that ranges in color from cream to black, and a tail that is cream colored at the end. There are no sub species.
The white Wildebeest our guest spotted was in fact a genetic anomaly. It was actually a Blue Wildebeest. Geoff's sandy-colored Wildebeest is also a Blue Wildebeest. It's one of five subspecies of the Blue - the Cookson's Wildebeest. This sub-species is restricted to the Luangwa Valley in Zambia and as you can see it's coloring is very light.
Making things a little more complicated the Black and Blue Wildebeest (which diverged into these northern and southern species about 1 million years ago) have now, due to proximity in South Africa, interbred and with fertile offspring.
It's enough to confuse Gnu.
Top pic: White Wildebeest spotted in Masai Mara, Kenya
Bottom Pic: Cooksons Wildebeest spotted in Luangwa, Zambia
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