Photo-pair summarising the distinction between blue wildebeest and western wildebeest

The western wildebeest, Connochaetes taurinus mattosi, differs from the blue wildebeest, Connochaetes taurinus taurinus (https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/54238-how-long-will-the-most-widespread-type-of-wildebeest-remain-unnamed# and https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/54306-how-one-of-the-most-familiar-of-african-large-mammals-came-to-be-unrecognised# and https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/54384-the-western-wildebeest-as-an-example-of-paedomorphic-evolution# and https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/54534-the-blue-wildebeest-incongruously-straddling-the-19th-and-21st-centuries#).
 
The former subspecies is associated with the Kalahari sandsheet across a wide latitudinal range, from the Northern Cape through Namibia and Botswana to western Zambia and southeastern Angola.

This is such a wide range that it encompassed three subspecies of the plains zebra, from the extinct quagga (Equus quagga quagga) in the Northern Cape, through Burchell's zebra (E. q. burchellii) in northern Namibia, to E. q. boehmi in western Zambia - which is the same subspecies that occurs in the Serengeti Ecosystem.
 
I have chosen the following pair of photographs to illustrate the difference between the two entities which have previously been lumped under a single subspecies, Connochaetes taurinus taurinus.
 
I also include a nice photo of newborn C. t. mattosi This shows how precocial the mane and beard are in this species. The beard and mane are already, at the time of birth, well-developed relative to adult ruminants in general. Furthermore, the mane actually extends posterior to the withers-hump in the newborn, only to recede by adulthood.
 
Connochaetes taurinus taurinus, adult female:
http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/626edf83f14b4d7e8c8d0a8deb10a72c/blue-wildebeest-brindled-gnu-white-bearded-wildebeest-connochaetes-ebt367.jpg

Connochaetes taurinus mattosi, adult female:
http://assets.sunsafaris.com/sunsafaris/safari/zambia/liuwa-plain-national-park/the-liuwa-plains-safari/wide//wildebeest2-rps.jpg 

Connochaetes taurinus mattosi, neonate:
https://cloudfront.safaribookings.com/library/zambia/xxl/Liuwa_Plain_National_Park_041.jpg

Further illustrations of C. t. mattosi in Liuwa Plain National Park (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liuwa_Plain_National_Park), western Zambia:

Connochaetes taurinus mattosi:
https://cloudfront.safaribookings.com/library/zambia/xxl/Liuwa_Plain_National_Park_001.jpg 
 
Connochaetes taurinus mattosi:
http://www.zambiatourism.com/media/201011_Liuwa_2032.jpg
 
Connochaetes taurinus mattosi:
http://www.zambiatourism.com/media/Luiwa4.jpg

Posted on July 6, 2022 09:15 PM by milewski