Wildebeest look a bit like a mash-up of several animals. They have the head of a buffalo, the body of a horse, a beard like a goat, and a tail like a donkey. People sometimes joke that they were 'put together from spare parts'. The Afrikaans name 'wildebeest' means 'wild beast'.
A newborn wildebeest is one of the fastest baby animals in the world. It can stand up within minutes of being born and run alongside its mother within an hour. It has to: in the open Serengeti, predators are never far away, so even tiny calves need to be ready to move.
Wildebeest follow the rain. When the grass in one place gets short, the whole herd starts walking to find better grass somewhere else. They take turns sleeping - some always stay awake on watch - and they 'talk' to each other in soft grunts and snorts. From a distance, a big herd sounds like rolling thunder.
Even though wildebeest are everywhere in the Serengeti, scientists are still learning new things about them. How do they all decide to start walking on the same day? Nobody knows for sure. Researchers think it's a mix of smell (rain on grass in the distance), sight (other wildebeest starting to move), and instinct passed from parent to child.

