AnimalsSavanna
Wildebeest Fun facts for kids
Connochaetes taurinus
The wildebeest lives on grassy plains in eastern and southern Africa and eats fresh green grass.
- Where it lives
- on grassy plains in eastern and southern Africa
- What it eats
- fresh green grass
- How big it is
- as heavy as three grown-ups
Fun facts about the wildebeest
The ones Sammy likes best. She tells them in the game, too.
A baby wildebeest can stand up just minutes after it is born, and within a day it runs with the herd.
More than a million wildebeest travel together in Africa, the biggest trip of big land animals on Earth.
A scared wildebeest can gallop as fast as a car driving along a country road.
Zebras like to travel with wildebeest, because zebras eat the tall grass and wildebeest eat the short grass underneath.
Both boy and girl wildebeest grow curved horns that sweep out and up, like handlebars.
The blue wildebeest is not really blue at all, it is silvery grey with dark stripes.
To cross a big river, wildebeest leap down steep banks and swim across in long lines.
Huge herds of wildebeest keep the grass short, and their poo feeds the ground, helping lots of other animals.
Riddle
Can a friend guess it?
Read the clues to someone, one at a time, without saying the animal. How many clues do they need? Fewer is better, just like in the game.
I live on wide grassy plains in Africa, and I eat fresh green grass.
Zebras like to walk with me, because they eat the tall grass and I eat the short grass underneath.
I can stand up just minutes after I'm born, and I run with my herd within a day.
Both boys and girls like me grow curved horns that sweep out and up like bicycle handlebars.
Over a million of us travel together across Africa, leaping into rivers where crocodiles wait.
Sammy might be thinking of a wildebeest.
In Thought Zoo, Sammy picks an animal and you ask her yes-or-no questions to find it. You'll find the wildebeest in the Savanna adventure.
Play the SavannaComing to iPad, iPhone and Android on 12 January 2027
