Because the wildebeest is a [G 41 / ruminant], [N 002 / digestion] takes more time than it does for a [G 32 / non-ruminant], such as the zebra, limiting the quantity of food that can be digested in a given period. Therefore, the wildebeest requires more easily digested, higher quality grasses than does the zebra. For this reason, wildebeest prefer short green grasses, such as the red oat, dropseed and finger grasses that carpet the Serengeti plains during the wet season.
These grasses are at the highest concentration of calcium and protein early in the growing season which is the time wildebeest give birth. The protein content declines from over 20 percent to less than four percent in the dry season. Less than the five percent is required by the wildebeest to maintain adequate nutrition.
By the time the grasses wither and the water sources evaporate during the dry season, the wildebeest have left the plains for the Western Corridor and, later, the woodlands to the north. These areas have permanent sources of water and, depending on rainfall, adequate grazing throughout the dry season.
