Nature Science

ZEBRAS ARE BREAKING RECORDS NOW!

The longest journey is happening now. It was just discovered that one single herd of zebras migrates more than 300 miles across Namibia and Botswana. That’s a big deal. It’s farther than any other mammal has been known to migrate.

Why do they do it? Food and water are the typical draws. That’s why more than 750,000 zebras and 1.2 million wildebeests, flanked by countless gazelles and eland move from the Ngorongoro crater area in southern Tanzania to the Masai Mara in lower Kenya and back. But their trip is short in comparison.

An article recently published in the journal Oryx, reports that a herd of just a few thousand Burchell's zebras (Equus quagga) trek in a straight-line, up-and-back, for 300 miles (500 km) in each direction. It was a surprise. No one knew this level of migration was possible.

The research team in Namibia—scientists from the WWF and Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism— had suspected something since animals arrived on the floodplains in the Salambala communal conservancy, where there are permanent water sources, even in the dry season -- and then they disappeared in the wet season.

Rains are a key migration driver. That’s not news. But travelling all the way from Namibia -- that was unheard of. This great feat was discovered when researchers tracking zebras in Namibia found that they were also being satellite collared by biologists from Elephants Without Borders across the Chobe River in Botswana.

Stranger still -- the zebras had a shorter, more efficient alternative. So, why? And why did animal evolve to migrate in the first place? Migration enables greater diversity while, at the same time, it allows for greater density of species. And they link ecosystems.

Usually, migratory animals follow the same paths for generations… down to the nearest meter. Some antelope have ground down the same footsteps for more that 6,000 years, according to ungulate ecologist Mark Hebblewhite of the University of Montana.

While humans have erected fences and other barriers that have interrupted the migration routes, It’s astonishing to see that if these are removed, the animals resume their heavily trodden paths. They know where they are going. And they know how to get there. They have internal GPS.

Beyond fascination, understanding migration patterns is helpful in conservation management.

The newly reported zebra migration takes place entirely within the boundaries of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA), covering about 170,000 square miles (440,000 square kilometers). It is the largest transfrontier conservation area in the world.

In addition to climate, land formations and cultural transmission guide the paths that migratory animals follow. And there may be genetics involved. The studies continue. But we wonder whether paths will change as climate change causes habitats and vegetation to shift.

Whatever their path, they all have the same purpose. And however they plot their journey, it is beautiful to watch.

Read more about Beautiful Migrations, as they relate to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including BN Does Great Migrations Now (Part1), BN Does Great Migrations Now (Part2), Beautiful Dining On the Wild Road Now and Beautiful Migration Blue.

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