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The Gnu's World: Serengeti Wildebeest Ecology and Life History
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.
- GenresAfrica
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 6, 2025
I wanted to learn more about wildebeest and this seemed like the right book to teach me. As a foundation of the Serengeti ecosystem, the ecology of wildebeest is an ecology of all life on the Great Plains.
Estes leans into this, with a focus on the Serengeti national park structure from a policy perspective, as well an ecological one. The history of how colonial and post-colonial park policy preserved the Serengeti compared to the fencing, disease control, and agricultural policies that eradicated similar migratory ecosystems across the rest of Africa is fantastically detailed. Estes’ detail on the current threats to the park, from climate change, encroaching settlement, highway/railway proposals, and its future are also greatly appreciated. Even the different political ideologies and structures of the countries that make up the Serengeti ecosystem are put under his lens. I finished this book with a comprehensive understanding of the Serengeti park from the ecological to the political.
The one threat to the park that could have been discussed with more care was the issue of human population explosions. We already know what curtails human population booms: improving outcomes for women’s health, education and autonomy. Any discussion around unsustainable human populations that doesn’t discuss these important solutions steps into very dangerous territory.
The tribulations the park has already survived are beyond what I had imagined. A crash of 95% of all wildebeest in the late 19th century by rinderpest, encroaching woodland, followed by a strong recovery makes a stunning case study in how nature can bounce back. The Serengeti is as precarious as it is resilient.
As for the actual animal. The level of detail here is clearly that of prolific researcher, and his credentials are exactly that. This kind of depth is what I was after, particularly regarding wildebeest behaviour and evolutionary history. The botanical, and geological details of wildebeest ecology were of a similar depth, but my own interest and background prevented me from appreciating the detail in these chapters. Dentition and topography just doesn’t enter my brain the way evolutionary biology and behavioural studies do.
Despite being a seasoned field researcher, there are occasions where Estes reveals a certain naïveté. Every now and then he would cite a little fun tidbit from “x website found on google” which discredited himself. He’s a profoundly knowledgeable researcher and the book has an overwhelming bibliography, so I understand this is just technological illiteracy at play, but it always struck me as funny.
Estes also has a contradictory and old-school relationship with animal ethics that leaves a sour taste on my contemporary tongue. In one breath he laments the tragedy of botched tranquillisation that killed a bull eland during his early research. In another he casually discusses the culling of 15 pregnant wildebeest as part of a survey in the 70s without pause.
Estes provided great detail for his own research. The information about how he came to his conclusions, the way he ran his experiments, and the number of animals involved leaves the reader with the ability to draw their own conclusions from his research, rather than simply relying on what Estes has to say. This makes the book denser and longer, but I appreciate it.
This is not a casual read, but it is exactly what I was after.
Estes leans into this, with a focus on the Serengeti national park structure from a policy perspective, as well an ecological one. The history of how colonial and post-colonial park policy preserved the Serengeti compared to the fencing, disease control, and agricultural policies that eradicated similar migratory ecosystems across the rest of Africa is fantastically detailed. Estes’ detail on the current threats to the park, from climate change, encroaching settlement, highway/railway proposals, and its future are also greatly appreciated. Even the different political ideologies and structures of the countries that make up the Serengeti ecosystem are put under his lens. I finished this book with a comprehensive understanding of the Serengeti park from the ecological to the political.
The one threat to the park that could have been discussed with more care was the issue of human population explosions. We already know what curtails human population booms: improving outcomes for women’s health, education and autonomy. Any discussion around unsustainable human populations that doesn’t discuss these important solutions steps into very dangerous territory.
The tribulations the park has already survived are beyond what I had imagined. A crash of 95% of all wildebeest in the late 19th century by rinderpest, encroaching woodland, followed by a strong recovery makes a stunning case study in how nature can bounce back. The Serengeti is as precarious as it is resilient.
As for the actual animal. The level of detail here is clearly that of prolific researcher, and his credentials are exactly that. This kind of depth is what I was after, particularly regarding wildebeest behaviour and evolutionary history. The botanical, and geological details of wildebeest ecology were of a similar depth, but my own interest and background prevented me from appreciating the detail in these chapters. Dentition and topography just doesn’t enter my brain the way evolutionary biology and behavioural studies do.
Despite being a seasoned field researcher, there are occasions where Estes reveals a certain naïveté. Every now and then he would cite a little fun tidbit from “x website found on google” which discredited himself. He’s a profoundly knowledgeable researcher and the book has an overwhelming bibliography, so I understand this is just technological illiteracy at play, but it always struck me as funny.
Estes also has a contradictory and old-school relationship with animal ethics that leaves a sour taste on my contemporary tongue. In one breath he laments the tragedy of botched tranquillisation that killed a bull eland during his early research. In another he casually discusses the culling of 15 pregnant wildebeest as part of a survey in the 70s without pause.
Estes provided great detail for his own research. The information about how he came to his conclusions, the way he ran his experiments, and the number of animals involved leaves the reader with the ability to draw their own conclusions from his research, rather than simply relying on what Estes has to say. This makes the book denser and longer, but I appreciate it.
This is not a casual read, but it is exactly what I was after.
December 14, 2018
This is an informative book with some very interesting facts that I could not have found in general books or documentaries. It was a great help with my research.
Unfortunately, inconsistency diminishes its values. One moment you are reading the outline of a very interesting and important research about the wildebeest but the scant amount of information keeps you asking for more than a mere summary, whereas several pages later you are reading needlessly detailed information about a boring and unimportant research. And to add insult to the injury, sometimes it turns into a memoir about how someone helped the author's wife with the kids. Yeah, that.
With consistent pacing and a more focused approach, this book would have been a much better one.
Unfortunately, inconsistency diminishes its values. One moment you are reading the outline of a very interesting and important research about the wildebeest but the scant amount of information keeps you asking for more than a mere summary, whereas several pages later you are reading needlessly detailed information about a boring and unimportant research. And to add insult to the injury, sometimes it turns into a memoir about how someone helped the author's wife with the kids. Yeah, that.
With consistent pacing and a more focused approach, this book would have been a much better one.
January 12, 2016
Excellent. Informative. And, unusually delightfully written book. Field workers all too often plod through their observations but Estes has corralled a whole lot of insights that richly portray the world of wildebeest while giving great gallops through the Serengeti landscape. Loved it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews