Blue wildebeest
Appearance
Blue wildebeest Temporal range: Pleistocene – present
Middle | |
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C. t. albojubatus In the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Bovidae |
Subfamily: | Alcelaphinae |
Genus: | Connochaetes |
Species: | C. taurinus
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Binomial name | |
Connochaetes taurinus (Burchell, 1823)
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Subspecies | |
C. t. albojubatus (Thomas, 1912) | |
Distribution of the subspecies: C. t. taurinus C. t. cooksoni C. t. johnstoni C. t. albojubatus C. t. mearnsi |
The blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), also called the common wildebeest, white-bearded wildebeest, white-bearded gnu or brindled gnu, is a large antelope and one of the two species of wildebeest.
The blue wildebeest is known to have five subspecies. Young blue wildebeest are born tawny brown, and begin to have their adult coloration at the age of 2 months.
Both sexes have a pair of large curved horns. The blue wildebeest is a herbivore, feeding mainly on short grasses.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2016). "Connochaetes taurinus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T5229A163322525. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T5229A163322525.en. Retrieved 11 November 2021.