Thomson's Gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii)

node · earth · Serengeti–Mara ecosystem

A small, highly selective grazer that follows the larger migrants and benefits from the short regrowth they leave behind. The 2024 Science study found gazelle trailing the large-bodied migrants by about three weeks — consistent with grazing facilitation, but over a much shorter lag than the roughly eight weeks Bell proposed in 1971. The Serengeti population has declined sharply: TAWIRI's 2010 survey estimated 165,973 (± 34,218 SE) against estimates of around 500,000 in the early 1980s. The species is assessed Least Concern by the IUCN as of 2018, upgraded from Near Threatened in 2008.