Taken 26-Dec-08
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Photo Info
Dimensions2784 x 1622
Original file size4.11 MB
Image typeJPEG
Color spacesRGB
Date taken26-Dec-08 14:37
Date modified18-Nov-11 23:48
Shooting Conditions
Camera makeNIKON CORPORATION
Camera modelNIKON D3
Focal length210 mm
Focal length (35mm)315 mm
Max lens aperturef/5.3
Exposure1/1000 at f/5.3
FlashNot fired
Exposure bias+1 1/3 EV
Exposure modeAuto
Exposure prog.Shutter priority
ISO speedISO 200
Metering modePattern
Digital zoom1.5x
The Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) – Gnu around Kopjes in Serengeti National Park during the Great Migrations. East Africa 2009 © Nora de Angelli / www.noraphotos.com
The most striking feature [of the Serengeti] is the great Kopjes ('small heads' in Afrikaans) which emerge out of the sea of grass. The technical term for these rock outcrops is inselberg. Made from old granite, deposits of volcanic ash and dust have accumulated around them to form the Serengeti plain. They have their own range of vegetation and wildlife.
With estimates that puts its population between 1.7 and 2 million, the Wildebeest is the most numerous inhabitant of the greater Serengeti ecosystem.
Undisputed protagonists and real anti-heroes of the Great Migration, wildebeest are large bearded antelopes, ungainly and weird-looking, with an aspect that might appear as the cross between a cow, a horse and a goat (indeed, according to an African legend, Wildebeest was put together by God using left over spare parts).
Smaller than an African buffalo but bigger than a gazelle, this social grazer of the acacia savanna and short-grass plains, known also as gnu, grows to 1.15-1.4 metres (3'9"-4'7") at the shoulder and weights between 150 and 250 kilograms (330 and 550 pounds). They inhabit the plains and open woodlands of southern Africa, especially the Serengeti. Wildebeest can live for more than 20 years.
Around July of each year, these grass-eaters migrate from the Serengeti plains in search of fresh pasture, and return to the south around October. This circular, clockwise migratory route, the Great Wildebeest Migration, is one of the world's greatest natural events.
Each year the promise of rain and fresh grass brings more than 1.3 million Wildebeest into a single massive herd, which makes a spectacular entrance on the southern plains of the Mara in a huge, surging column of wildlife.
With estimates that puts its population between 1.7 and 2 million, the Wildebeest is the most numerous inhabitant of the greater Serengeti ecosystem.
Undisputed protagonists and real anti-heroes of the Great Migration, wildebeest are large bearded antelopes, ungainly and weird-looking, with an aspect that might appear as the cross between a cow, a horse and a goat (indeed, according to an African legend, Wildebeest was put together by God using left over spare parts).
Smaller than an African buffalo but bigger than a gazelle, this social grazer of the acacia savanna and short-grass plains, known also as gnu, grows to 1.15-1.4 metres (3'9"-4'7") at the shoulder and weights between 150 and 250 kilograms (330 and 550 pounds). They inhabit the plains and open woodlands of southern Africa, especially the Serengeti. Wildebeest can live for more than 20 years.
Around July of each year, these grass-eaters migrate from the Serengeti plains in search of fresh pasture, and return to the south around October. This circular, clockwise migratory route, the Great Wildebeest Migration, is one of the world's greatest natural events.
Each year the promise of rain and fresh grass brings more than 1.3 million Wildebeest into a single massive herd, which makes a spectacular entrance on the southern plains of the Mara in a huge, surging column of wildlife.
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