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Plains Zebra (Equus quagga)

node · earth · Serengeti–Mara ecosystem

A hindgut-fermenting equid that co-migrates with the wildebeest; TAWIRI aerial census work has put the migratory Serengeti zebra population at roughly 200,000. Because zebra can process bulk low-quality grass that ruminants cannot, classical theory placed them at the front of the grazing succession, cropping tall stems and exposing better forage behind them. GPS-collar and dietary work published in Science in 2024 found the reality is a push–pull: competition for food nudges zebra ahead of wildebeest, and the two species travel closer together than the classic model predicted.

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Evidence · 3
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Assembled narrative · 1

Assembled from 34 blocks · 3 evidence · 31 related

  1. Story
  2. A hindgut-fermenting equid that co-migrates with the wildebeest; TAWIRI aerial census work has put the migratory Serengeti zebra population at roughly 200,000. Because zebra can process bulk low-quality grass that ruminants cannot, classical theory placed them at the front of the grazing succession, cropping tall stems and exposing better forage behind them. GPS-collar and dietary work published in Science in 2024 found the reality is a push–pull: competition for food nudges zebra ahead of wildebeest, and the two species travel closer together than the classic model predicted.
  3. Knowledge
  4. Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus)
  5. Plains Zebra (Equus quagga)
  6. Connections
  7. Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus)
  8. Grazing Succession
  9. Serengeti–Mara Rainfall Gradient
  10. Thomson's Gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii)
  11. Western Corridor and Grumeti Reserves
  12. Southern Serengeti Short-Grass Plains
  13. Serengeti National Park
  14. Southern Serengeti Short-Grass Plains
  15. Mara River
  16. Plains Zebra (Equus quagga)
  17. Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus)
  18. Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta)
  19. Serengeti Biodiversity Programme
  20. Rinderpest disappears from the Serengeti–Mara ecosystem
  21. The wildebeest population irrupts from roughly 250,000 to over a million
  22. Drought kills roughly a quarter of the wildebeest population
  23. The Mara–Loita migration collapses by about 81%
  24. Edge degradation squeezes wildlife into the ecosystem core
  25. The rut
  26. The calving pulse on the short-grass plains
  27. The herds cross the Grumeti River in the western corridor
  28. The Mara River crossings
  29. TAWIRI Aerial Point Survey estimates 1,366,109 wildebeest
  30. AI satellite survey returns fewer than 600,000, and is contested
  31. Evidence
  32. GPS-collar, dietary and camera-trap data show a push–pull dynamic in which competition pushes zebra ahead of wildebeest and facilitation pulls Thomson's gazelle about three weeks behind, only partly matching Bell's 1971 grazing-succession model
  33. The migratory wildebeest population was estimated at 1,366,109 animals in 2023 by manual triple-count aerial point survey
  34. Global conservation status for the species involved, and the caveat that global Least Concern status does not describe the risk to the migratory behaviour itself
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