In this lesson, students will make maps of the wildebeest migration route in eastern Africa. They will look at wildebeest photographs and use a simplified version of this wildebeest migration map. They will conclude by writing stories about wildebeests and their migration.

Geography, life science

Standard 9: "The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth's surface"

Two hours

• Computer with Internet access
• Writing and drawing materials

Students will

• draw a map of the wildebeest migration route;
• answer questions about wildebeest migration;
• discuss the difference between the rainy and the dry season, and label these seasons on their maps in relation to wildebeest movements; and
• write stories about wildebeests during a given month of the year.

Ask students to close their eyes and imagine this scenario:

You live in the wilderness. There are no fast food restaurants, no grocery stores, and no other places to get ready-made food. There's not much water, either. Every year, it rains on and off for two or three months. The rest of the time, it is very dry. The streams and ponds dry up. There is little water for you to drink, and plants cannot grow.

Ask students what they think they would do in this situation. How would they get their food? Where would they find their water? Would they invent a way to obtain food or water from the parched land, or would they go to another place where they might have a better chance of finding what they need?

Discuss students' ideas, and then explain that many animals solved this problem a long time ago. Some animals, such as camels, have special ways of storing food or water in their bodies. Other animals, such as bears, hibernate, or sleep, until the weather changes. Still other animals migrate to places with more water and food.

Have students look at these pictures of wildebeests. Tell them they are also called gnus. Ask students if they have ever seen any animal like this before.

Explain that the wildebeest is one of the animals that migrates to find food and water when the land becomes dry. Show students the wildebeest's geographical range—grassy plains and open woodlands in southern, central, and eastern Africa—on a world wall map.

Copy a large, simplified version of this wildebeest migration map onto the board. You don't need to draw the country boundaries—just draw the general migration route with the arrows, and label the months. Point out this area on the world map so students know what they are looking at.

Make sure students understand that you have drawn a map rather than simply a series of arrows. To help them understand this, add a compass rose to your map showing north, south, east, and west. Review these directions with the class, asking students to point to the directions on the map.

Ask students to copy the migration route you have drawn onto their own blank papers. Also have them draw the compass rose.

[Note: As an option, you can have students look at the migration map online and copy it onto blank outline maps of Tanzania.]

Explain to the class that their maps show where the wildebeests spend their time during different months of the year. For example, in August, September, and October, they are as far north as they will go. Ask students to state which direction the wildebeests are heading in the months of July (west), November (east), and December (south).

Explain that the arrows show the directions the wildebeests move over the months.

Show students these wildebeest pictures and discuss with them the following questions and answers:

• What do wildebeests eat? (Answer: Grass.)
• When are wildebeest babies born? (Answer: In February and March.)
• Why do wildebeests migrate? (Answer: To find better grass for food—this is related to increased water supply.)
• When do wildebeests begin their migration? (Answer: May and June.)
• What other animals can be seen near wildebeests? (Answer: Zebras.)
• Do wildebeests like to travel alone, in small groups, or in large groups? (Answer: In large groups.)

Students now know that wildebeest babies are born in February and March. Write the word "babies" near those months on the map, and ask students to do the same on their maps. They may also draw pictures of baby wildebeests in this area.

Ask students to look carefully at the location of Tanzania and Kenya on a world map and a globe. Do they think the weather is warm or cool here? Why? Have one or two students point out the equator, or point it out to the class.

Tell students that this part of Africa, being so close to the equator, doesn't have very cold weather (except in the high mountains). Instead, there are two main seasons—the rainy season and the dry season. If students live in an area such as coastal California, they will probably understand the concept of a dry and a rainy season.

Tell students that the rainiest season is from March to May and the driest month is October. Ask them to find and circle these months on their maps. Discuss the locations of the wildebeests in March, April, May, and October. Students should notice that the wildebeests are in opposite locations during these months. Write the words "Rainy Season" at the bottom of the map and "Dry Season" at the top of the map, and ask students to do the same on their maps.

Have students return to the wildebeest pictures and pay close attention to the grass this time. What color is the grass in these pictures? Is there a lot of grass? Are any of these wildebeests eating the grass?

As students may have noticed from the pictures, wildebeests love to eat grass. Explain to the class that wildebeests must follow the changes in rainfall to find the places with the best grass to eat and the most water to drink. Have students look at their maps and state where they think wildebeests find the best grass and the most water during the dry season. They should say "at the bottom of the map," or "in the south." This is why wildebeests are in this region during the dry season.

Ask students to choose a month of the year—perhaps the month of their birthday or the current month. Ask them to use their maps to figure out where the wildebeests are right now. Are they in the north, the south, or the middle of their range? Are they in their rainy season location, their dry season location, or in the process of migrating to one of these locations?

Have students write stories about the wildebeests during the month they have chosen. The stories should discuss:

• whether it is the dry season, the rainy season, or in-between;
• what the wildebeests are doing; and
• where the wildebeests will go next.

For younger students, choose a month that the class can agree on (probably the current month), and figure out where the wildebeests are during this month. Then write the story together as a class, allowing students to imagine out loud what the wildebeests might be doing. Have students illustrate the story.

• Have students look go to the Wild Thornberrys site. Ask them to click on "Animal Facts" and scroll through to "Wildebeest." After they click on "Wildebeest," the first animal fact under the picture states that it has "the head of an ox, the mane of a horse and buffalo horns." Ask students to write fables explaining how the wildebeest ended up being a combination of these three animals.
  
  
• Have students look at this picture of a wildebeest herd with zebras in the foreground. Have students seen any zebras in the other wildebeest pictures they have looked at? Explain that these two animals tend to stick together. They both eat grass in the same place, and they both migrate to find better grass. Can students think of any other animals that live together peacefully in the same place? Have the class brainstorm a list, and write their ideas on the board. Have students draw pictures of these animals coexisting.

African Wildlife FoundationWildebeest
SeaWorld: AnimalBytesEastern white-bearded wildebeest (gnu)
Wildebeest Photos