{"id":36,"date":"2017-01-27T08:46:48","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T08:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dereklee.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=36"},"modified":"2017-01-27T08:46:48","modified_gmt":"2017-01-27T08:46:48","slug":"drought-disrupts-wildebeest-migration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/36\/drought-disrupts-wildebeest-migration\/","title":{"rendered":"Drought Disrupts Wildebeest Migration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In Summary: Drought has left wildebeests and zebras of the Tarangire Ecosystem in northern Tanzania without food or water on their calving grounds, disrupting their normal migration and forcing them to give birth near the Tarangire River.<\/p>\n<p>Tanzania is experiencing a <a href=\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/201701030277.html\">drought<\/a> after the short rainy season failed to deliver much-needed rainfall during recent months. The landscape across the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tarangire_Ecosystem\">Tarangire Ecosystem<\/a> of northern Tanzania is now unseasonably dry, and where the ground would normally be a carpet of green, grasses and herbs are now in short supply. Normally, at this time of year, the long-distance migratory wildlife like wildebeests and zebras would be on their calving grounds on the short-grass plains near Gelai and Simanjiro, far from the Tarangire River. However, the lack of water and food on the calving grounds has forced pregnant wildebeests and zebras to return early to Tarangire National Park to give birth, a disruption of their normal migratory behaviour with uncertain consequences.<\/p>\n<p>The Tarangire Ecosystem is defined by the long-distance migration of wildebeests and zebras between their dry-season range along the Tarangire River in Tarangire National Park, and their wet-season calving grounds on the Northern Plains and Simanjiro Plains outside the park. The reason for the migration is that the greater nutritional content of the grasses on the calving grounds support lactation and calf growth, but the less nutritious grasses near the river do not. Wildlife migrations are an endangered phenomenon in the world and there are only three remaining wildebeest migrations in Africa. The Tarangire migration supports the Tarangire Ecosystem as an important source of wildlife tourism revenue for the country but the ecosystem is largely unprotected and the population of wildebeests has plummeted from 40,000 in the 1980s to only 7,000 today. Conservationists fear this disruption could exacerbate the Tarangire wildebeest\u2019s already precarious situation, which is why Wild Nature Institute has prioritized protection of the Northern Plains migration route.<\/p>\n<p>It remains to be seen whether the wildebeest calves now being born in Tarangire National Park will survive, given the poor forage quality there. If this year\u2019s crop of wildebeest calves is lost due to the drought, the population will have a harder time recovering from its already depleted numbers. On the positive side, the unusual presence of so much easy prey in Tarangire National Park is likely helping the lions and other predators that live there. Lion numbers have been steadily declining in Tarangire due to illegal killing when they leave the safety of the park. Giraffes too should see <a href=\"http:\/\/uspolitics.einnews.com\/pr_news\/350930371\/how-does-saving-a-wildebeest-migration-help-giraffes\">unseasonably high calf survival<\/a> as the lions and hyenas concentrate their predation on wildebeests and zebras. The current drought situation highlights the interconnectedness of all parts of a functioning ecosystem, and how a natural disruption can push endangered wildlife populations over the edge when they are already suffering from human-caused habitat loss and illegal killing.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_37\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-37\" style=\"width: 290px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/01\/Lionessdeadzebrafoal.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-37\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/01\/Lionessdeadzebrafoal-300x200.jpg?resize=300%2C200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Picture of a Lioness with her meal of a zebra foal. Photo credit Wild Nature Institute.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/01\/Lionessdeadzebrafoal.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/01\/Lionessdeadzebrafoal.jpg?w=684&amp;ssl=1 684w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-37\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lions are benefitting from the unseasonal abundance of migratory wildlife in Tarangire National Park during this drought.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_38\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-38\" style=\"width: 290px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/01\/WBandCalf.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-38\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/01\/WBandCalf-300x218.jpg?resize=300%2C218&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Picture of Wildebeest and her newborn calf in Tarangire National Park. \" width=\"300\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/01\/WBandCalf.jpg?resize=300%2C218&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/01\/WBandCalf.jpg?w=609&amp;ssl=1 609w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-38\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wildebeest and her newborn calf in Tarangire National Park. Calves are not normally born there, but the drought has driven migratory animals into the park seeking water.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Summary: Drought has left wildebeests and zebras of the Tarangire Ecosystem in northern Tanzania without food or water on their calving grounds, disrupting their normal migration and forcing them to give birth near the Tarangire River. Tanzania is experiencing a drought after the short rainy season failed to deliver much-needed rainfall during recent months. &#8230; <a title=\"Drought Disrupts Wildebeest Migration\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/36\/drought-disrupts-wildebeest-migration\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Drought Disrupts Wildebeest Migration\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":284,"featured_media":38,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3,16],"tags":[5,8,17,7,18,4,20,19],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecology","category-wildlife-conservation","category-wildlife-migration","tag-animals","tag-derek-lee","tag-drought","tag-wild-nature-institute","tag-wildebeest","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-migration","tag-zebra"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Drought Disrupts Wildebeest Migration - Derek Lee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/36\/drought-disrupts-wildebeest-migration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Drought Disrupts Wildebeest Migration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Summary: Drought has left wildebeests and zebras of the Tarangire Ecosystem in northern Tanzania without food or water on their calving grounds, disrupting their normal migration and forcing them to give birth near the Tarangire River. Tanzania is experiencing a drought after the short rainy season failed to deliver much-needed rainfall during recent months. ... 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Calves are not normally born there, but the drought has driven migratory animals into the park seeking water."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/36\/drought-disrupts-wildebeest-migration\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Drought Disrupts Wildebeest Migration"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/","name":"Derek Lee","description":"Wild Nature Institute","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/#organization","name":"Derek Lee","url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/04\/cropped-WNI-Three-Line-Logo.jpg?fit=2303%2C1149&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/04\/cropped-WNI-Three-Line-Logo.jpg?fit=2303%2C1149&ssl=1","width":2303,"height":1149,"caption":"Derek Lee"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/#\/schema\/person\/41b42fba55c50c75d88b1a44c47d067c","name":"Derek Lee","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/795f1f3e792a49d904ae6ad8e9f57bb1db46f9b16a8a56beb88756e38c9650ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/795f1f3e792a49d904ae6ad8e9f57bb1db46f9b16a8a56beb88756e38c9650ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/795f1f3e792a49d904ae6ad8e9f57bb1db46f9b16a8a56beb88756e38c9650ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Derek Lee"},"description":"Derek Lee\ufeff, PhD, is a quantitative wildlife biologist with expertise in conservation demography and population ecology. Current research investigates Masai Giraffe and other large mammal populations within a fragmented landscape in Tanzania. This work examines how births, deaths, and movements of ungulates are impacted by increasingly fragmented wildlife habitat, and what conservation actions are most effective. He spent 10 years researching the impacts of climate and ocean conditions on survival, reproduction, and population growth rates of marine predators such as northern elephant seals, Common Murres, and Cassin's Auklets at the South Farallon Islands, California. His work was included in a conservation and management plan for seabirds in the California Current. He also studied migration of Black Brant in Humboldt Bay as well as fire ecology of small mammals in California's oak woodlands and California Spotted Owls in the Sierra Nevada.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.wildnatureinstitute.org"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/author\/dereklee\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/01\/WBandCalf.jpg?fit=609%2C443&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgtNOJ-A","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":63,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/63\/new-study-describes-a-threatened-long-distance-wildebeest-migration-route\/","url_meta":{"origin":36,"position":0},"title":"New Study Describes A Threatened Long-Distance Wildebeest Migration Route","author":"Derek Lee","date":"May 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A new study published this week described in detail for the first time an endangered long-distance wildebeest migration in the Tarangire ecosystem of northern Tanzania. Wildlife migrations were once widespread globally, but are now mostly lost, and the remaining few migrations are in precipitous decline because of rapid, human-caused changes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;animal&quot;","block_context":{"text":"animal","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/category\/animal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eastern White-bearded Wildebeest migrate with their calves in northern Tanzania from the Gelai Plains calving grounds to Tarangire National Park. A new study described in detail for the first time this endangered long-distance wildebeest migration in the Tarangire ecosystem of northern Tanzania. 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Arusha, TANZANIA, 10 August 2018- Community-based natural resource management is a grassroots conservation tool that has become one of the dominant paradigms of natural resource conservation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;animal&quot;","block_context":{"text":"animal","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/category\/animal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A group of Masai Giraffes in the Tarangire Ecosystem.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/05\/MRgangFunky.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/05\/MRgangFunky.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/05\/MRgangFunky.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/05\/MRgangFunky.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/05\/MRgangFunky.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":124,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/124\/giraffe-skin-disease-linked-to-soil-fertility\/","url_meta":{"origin":36,"position":2},"title":"Giraffe Skin Disease Linked to Soil Fertility","author":"Derek Lee","date":"April 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Giraffe Skin Disease is a disorder of the skin that is characterized by crusty lesions on the back side of the front legs of adult Masai giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) the only subspecies in Tanzania.\u00a0Lesions such as the ones shown in this picture on the forelimbs indicate Giraffe Skin Disease.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;animal&quot;","block_context":{"text":"animal","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/category\/animal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Giraffe in Tarangire National Park","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/04\/GirHeadFunk.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/04\/GirHeadFunk.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/04\/GirHeadFunk.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/04\/GirHeadFunk.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/54\/its-been-a-fantastic-18-months-for-giraffe-science\/","url_meta":{"origin":36,"position":3},"title":"It&#8217;s Been A Fantastic 18 Months For Giraffe Science","author":"Derek Lee","date":"May 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019ve had a fantastic 18 months of giraffe science publishing at the Wild Nature Institute, with 10 papers out in peer-reviewed scientific journals. These papers are all the product of our Masai Giraffe Conservation Demography Project, which is the largest individual-based study of giraffes in the world. 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A new study explored the various threats to giraffe populations, and how specific human actions can mediate those threats so that giraffes and people can thrive together in African savannas.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;animal&quot;","block_context":{"text":"animal","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/category\/animal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"giraffes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/giraffesngo_orig.jpg?fit=1024%2C385&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/giraffesngo_orig.jpg?fit=1024%2C385&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/giraffesngo_orig.jpg?fit=1024%2C385&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/giraffesngo_orig.jpg?fit=1024%2C385&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51,"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/dereklee\/51\/new-study-will-help-giraffe-conservation\/","url_meta":{"origin":36,"position":5},"title":"New Study Will Help Giraffe Conservation","author":"Derek Lee","date":"May 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"How do you reverse a population decline and save an endangered species? This is the central question in conservation biology and it is the core of my scientific work. A population of animals like giraffes is almost always made up of smaller groups of animals that we call subpopulations. 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