The Gnu's World : Serengeti Wildebeest Ecology and Life History.
Title:
The Gnu's World : Serengeti Wildebeest Ecology and Life History.
Author:
Estes, Richard D.
ISBN:
9780520958197
Personal Author:
Edition:
1st ed.
Physical Description:
1 online resource (460 pages)
Contents:
Subvention -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: The Author's Fifty-Year History of Wildebeest Research -- 1. Africa: The Real Home Where Antelopes Roam -- 2. African Savannas: Understanding the Tropical Climate, Vegetation, and the Gnu's Ecological Niche -- 3. Introducing the Wildebeest's Tribe: Similarities and Differences among the Four Genera and Seven Species -- 4. The Four Wildebeest Subspecies and the Status of Migratory Populations -- 5. Increase and Protection of the Serengeti Wildebeest Population -- 6. Serengeti Grasslands and the Wildebeest Migration -- 7. Social Organization: Comparison of Migratory and Resident Populations -- 8. Male and Female Life Histories -- 9. Cooperation and Competition among Twenty-Seven Ungulates That Coexist with the Wildebeest -- 10. The Amazing Migration and Rut of the Serengeti Wildebeest -- 11. The Calving Season: Birth and Survival in Small Herds and on Calving Grounds -- 12. Serengeti Shall Not Die? Africa's Most Iconic World Heritage Site under Siege -- Bibliography -- Index.
Abstract:
This is the first scholarly book on the antelope that dominates the savanna ecosystems of eastern and southern Africa. It presents a synthesis of research conducted over a span of fifty years, mainly on the wildebeest in the Ngorongoro and Serengeti ecosystems, where eighty percent of the world's wildebeest population lives. Wildebeest and other grazing mammals drive the ecology and evolution of the savanna ecosystem. Richard D. Estes describes this process and also details the wildebeest's life history, focusing on its social organization and unique reproductive system, which are adapted to the animal's epic annual migrations. He also examines conservation issues that affect wildebeest, including range-wide population declines.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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