Wildebeest: The Most Bullied Animal in Africa

[00:00:00]The wildebeest has got to be one of the most bullied creatures in the African lobby. I mean, when is the last time you saw a clip of one of these guys doing anything other than getting folded up like a gosh [music] darn camping chair?

[00:00:11]So, today we will go through all of the biggest threats a wildebeest will face throughout its ridiculously hard life.

[00:00:18]Spoiler alert.

[00:00:20]It gets rather brutal. Now, the first existential threat you will face is literally being born a wildebeest in the first place. From the get-go, you are severely nerfed and basically anything could spawn kill you in an instant. So, you basically just have to pray your mother chose a good spawn point because she ain't going to do [ __ ] as far as protecting you. Any sign of real danger and she will skedaddle real quick. And this level of defenselessness you will have to live with for the next 6 to 8 months. After that, >> [music] >> you will get much more independent and you can at least run away from danger more effectively. Now, one of the more dominant threats you will have to deal with your entire life is the presence of lions. These big kittens have literally spent the last 10,000 years evolving into something specifically designed to end the life of confused grass-powered NPCs such as yourself in the most efficient way possible. By the time you are grown, you have probably already seen multiple family members getting a severe and absolute humbling by one [music] of these big cats. And for the most part, there is literally nothing you can do to defend yourself. [music] If the lion gets a hold of your neck, as seen in this instance, you might as well start to vibe to the trumpets because they will get loud and you are not getting away at that point.

[00:01:36]The best strategy the wildebeest have come up with is staying in large herds.

[00:01:40]This will reduce the chance of you getting singled out a lot, but it is still not a guarantee at all.

[00:01:47]Although this strategy is actually a very proven survival method which a lot of animals have deployed successfully both on land, water, and even in the air.

[00:01:57]So, for the species, it's a good strat.

[00:02:00]For you, it is basically just a game of chance. And lions are just one single piece of the incredibly sinister puzzle when it comes to predators that want a piece of you.

[00:02:12]Leopards, for example, are yet another cat that you have to watch out for.

[00:02:17]Although leopards are not really that big, so they usually stay safe and target smaller prey. But, a leopard will still target weaker, sick, or smaller individuals, and they most definitely have the strength to overpower you on their own, as seen here. Now, this one has just been on a long swim over the Mara River, >> [music] >> which, by the way, is literal hell on Earth for a wildebeest. But, more on that later in the video. Now, one predator you might have thought you could deem kind of harmless is the cheetah.

[00:02:48]For some reason, this cat has been getting its name dragged through the dirt, both here on YouTube and especially on forums.

[00:02:56]And this has probably made a lot of you believe that they're rather weak and an animal easily bullied around. But, this is not really true at all. Yes, cheetahs do get their kill stolen sometimes, because they are built like a speedster, not a brawler.

[00:03:11]If a lion, leopard, or even a single hyena shows up, the cheetah usually has to just stand there like a good little kitten.

[00:03:17]Because for a cheetah, getting injured in a stupid argument over dinner is basically a death sentence. But, this is also just part of life as a predator here on the African savanna.

[00:03:28]Wild dogs get their kill stolen, too.

[00:03:31]And even the so-called king of the jungle has to pay the savanna tax sometimes. And for cheetahs, it is far from some massive problem. One Serengeti study found they only actually lost around 11% of their kills to lions and hyenas, which is not exactly the career-ending disaster people make it out to be. Anyways, now that their reputation is somewhat restored, let's get into why and how they are a problem for wildebeest. You see, while these cats are best known for going solo, taking down smaller prey like gazelles, male cheetah coalitions are a completely different story.

[00:04:06][music] Because when three or four male cheetahs work together, they can suddenly start punching way above their weight class.

[00:04:13]A grown wildebeest is still a very ambitious target and definitely not the average cheetah snack. But, as seen here, it is absolutely possible. One cheetah can start [music] the chase and force the wildebeest into panic mode, while the others help pressure it from different angles. And this is where people often misunderstand cheetahs.

[00:04:33]Being bad at defending a carcass is not the same as being bad at killing things.

[00:04:38]These cats might not be built to wrestle a lion over leftovers, but when it comes to turning pure speed into a coordinated takedown, they are still very much serious predators. Because once one of them gets a good throat grip, the others can pile on, pinning you down.

[00:04:53]And for the wildebeest, this is quite the shitty situation, because now you are not just trying to [music] outrun one cheetah. You are trying to escape several biological race cars working together to turn you into [music] fresh road kill. And in this specific scenario, they did indeed do just that.

[00:05:09][music] And unfortunately for the wildebeest, cheetahs are not the only predators that figured out teamwork. You also have to deal with two of Africa's [music] most vocal and probably most sinister pack hunters, the hyenas and wild dogs. But before we jump into all that, I want to give a huge thank you to my most [music] loyal supporters. Now, the Patreon here is rather new, but we are growing fast. So, if you want to join a nice little animal community, get an open chat with me and a lot of extra behind [music] the scenes stuff, like this story about my hecking European badger skull, >> [music] >> or the story of when I caught a gosh darn lizard on vacation, then a sign up would be much appreciated. You can simply scan the QR code on screen [music] or just click the link in the description. Either way, hope to see some of you there.

[00:05:56]And as I've said before, getting taken out by a skilled life-canceling machine such as a lion or cheetah is basically one of the more humane ways to go out because they are so efficient at taking names. But wild dogs and hyenas on the other hand are not so gracious. These animals are built around stamina and harassment. They do not always need one perfect dramatic [music] takedown because they can just keep pressuring you, biting you, wearing you down, and making your day progressively worse until your body has no choice but to file a resignation letter. They will basically just start eating you once they get control of you.

[00:06:31]And that's a situation you really don't want to find yourself in here on the savanna. And even if you somehow manage to survive all these different predators, your life still does not get much easier. In fact, this is where the difficulty level gets dialed to [music] 100 because at some point you have to follow the herd into one of nature's most brutal and chaotic yearly events.

[00:06:52]These knuckleheads basically all decide to take part in the world's worst group decision in the history of well, natural history. Welcome to the crossing of the Mara River.

[00:07:03]Now, the reason they do this is not because wildebeest are secretly addicted to bad decisions, which it certainly does feel like at times, but they are simply following the rain. So, in their defense, it is not completely stupid. It is just one of those situations where every option sucks and the herd collectively chose the one with giant aquatic murder logs involved. And this great migration is basically a year-round survival loop from hell where the herd keeps following the rain and fresh grass.

[00:07:31]But around the dry season, most of them eventually reach the Mara River where the whole journey turns into one of nature's most diabolical mass wildebeest deletion events ever seen. And before they even enter the water, a long, extremely nervous-looking queue starts to form. Thousands of wildebeest gather at the edge, staring at the river like [music] they all know this is one horrendous idea. But eventually, one brave, slightly confused, or peer-pressured individual jumps in first. Then the rest of the herd just follows like gosh darn sheep. It's like when us humans are waiting at a red light to cross the street, then suddenly a random dude just walks over before it turns green.

[00:08:09]And suddenly, everyone decides traffic laws and self-preservation are both optional and follows him to a potential early life resignation with no second thought. But for the wildebeest, the consequences are far more catastrophic [music] as they are pretty much swimming straight into gosh darn dinosaurs. The crocs don't even bother chasing them because they know some dumb ass will just swim into their mouth at some point. And even if you make it across in one piece, there are other predators waiting for you there, too.

[00:08:37]Now, the most ironic thing about this whole crossing event is that the predators involved here do not stand for the most casualties. You see, on average, over 6,000 wildebeest either drown or get hecking trampled here every year.

[00:08:51]>> [music] >> And the scenes further down the river can get quite sinister. This means that if we take away all the life-canceling machines, these guys will still find a [music] way to cut down their population on their own. So overall, I would say that the life of a wildebeest on the African savanna must be one of the hardest lives to be born [music] into on Earth.

[00:09:10]Anyways, that's all for today. And as some of you may know, I'm still in the middle of moving. So balancing that with YouTube has been rather difficult, but I'm back to full force in a few weeks.

[00:09:20]Anyways, see you next Saturday.