Number of Young

Usually 1.

Gestation

8.5 months.

Birth

Birth usually occurs after the October rains, when there is a promise of fresh food. The female does not leave the herd to give birth. Although fragile in appearance when first born, the calf is able to follow its mother within two hours. The young are suckled for eight months, but start to eat grass as young as one week. Young wildebeests are evicted from the breeding herds at 12 months of age, and form bachelor herds of up to 40 animals.