The Incredible Relationship Between Wildebeest and Zebras in African Wildlife

The wildebeest and zebra are not only distinctive in their appearance but also have quite a remarkable relationship. These two plant-eaters have learned to live alongside one another and take many benefits from each other’s existence that ultimately help them sustain their lives.

Both wildebeest and zebra are herbivores, and they have to graze to survive. Their feeding preferences, while similar, differ in taste and allow the two species to coexist without getting in each other’s way. Wildebeest prefer shorter grasses, while zebras go for longer, tougher ones. This difference in diet enables them to coexist peacefully by focusing on different parts of the same grazing grounds.

Their cooperative behavior extends beyond sharing feeding grounds to how their different grazing habits complement each other. Zebras are selective grazers, choosing and consuming the more nutritious grasses first. Where zebras move on, wildebeest follow as bulk grazers that consume huge amounts of grass with little selectivity. It helps the other in this symbiotic relationship; zebras take away tough grasses, leaving behind soft ones that wildebeests like to feed on. Both together create a balanced grazing environment for themselves and other herbivores in the area.

Apart from feeding habits, the issue of safety is an important component in their relationship because there are predators in the savanna like lions and cheetahs. The wildebeests and the zebras increase mutual vigilance against the threats of the predators, thereby making it difficult for them to isolate anybody of them. Zebras with sharp eyesight and quick hearing serve as sentinels, while wildebeests have a very good sense of smell. These all combine to present a watchful defense system for more security.

Apart from the food factor, the social bond plays an important role in this interspecific mutualism since both animals thrive in herds where collective security is paramount. By grazing and migrating together, they can make larger mixed-species groups, enhance their social interaction in finding mates, provide care and protection for their young ones in such herds, and discourage predator attacks since predators are wary of the large number that makes them difficult targets.