Park History
This year marked the establishment of Serengeti National Park.
What is 1951?
This is the primary food source for wildebeest in the Serengeti.
What is grass?
Scientists call data gathered from observation and experimentation by this term.
What is empirical evidence?
The three rain gauge locations in the Serengeti are Simiyu in the south, Handejega in the west, and this location in the north.
What is Kogentende?
This term describes a resource that controls whether organisms can grow - if there's a lot, they grow; if there's not enough, growth is prevented.
What is a limiting factor?
This scientist grew up in Tanzania, studied wildebeest for his PhD, and served as Director General of Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute.
Who is Dr. Simon Mduma?
The Serengeti ecosystem is approximately this many square kilometers, roughly the size of Vermont.
What is 25,000 square kilometers?
The current wildebeest population in the Serengeti is approximately this many animals.
What is 1.3 million?
Researchers analyzed this substance from wildebeest bones to assess their nutritional health, looking at fat percentage.
What is bone marrow?
Wildebeest spend the most time in this region where the soil quality makes grass highly nutritious.
What is the south (or southern region)?
This ecological concept refers to the maximum population size that an environment can sustain based on available resources.
What is carrying capacity?
This scientist grew up in East Africa, spent his life studying the Serengeti ecosystem, and researched the relationship between rainfall and grass.
Who is Dr. Tony Sinclair?
This international organization recognized the Serengeti as having 'outstanding universal value to humanity.'
What is UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)?
In 1970, the wildebeest population was this size, showing significant growth over the following decades.
What is 500,000 (or approximately half a million)?
Dr. Mduma's population data showed that this factor, which many people assumed was killing wildebeest, was NOT a major mortality factor.
What is poaching?
The north region receives more of this than other regions throughout the year, yet has less nutritious grass.
What is rain (or rainfall)?
Rain acts as this type of factor for grass growth in the Serengeti.
What is a limiting factor?
Dr. Sinclair researched how this weather phenomenon affects grass growth, which in turn drives wildebeest migration patterns.
What is rainfall (or rain)?
The boundaries of Serengeti National Park changed from the original size primarily to protect this annual event.
What is the wildebeest migration (or the full migration route)?
All wildebeest give birth in this region of the Serengeti because it offers the most nutritious grass and protection from predators.
What is the south (or southern region)?
When analyzing wildebeest killed by lions and hyenas, researchers found that predators primarily killed wildebeest in these age categories rather than young adults.
What are middle-aged, old, and very old wildebeest?
In the west region, grass is more nutritious during this season because nutrients are stored in grass blades rather than roots when soil is drier.
What is the dry season?
These are factors that affect survival or cause death in a population, which Dr. Mduma studied in wildebeest.
What are mortality factors?
In Lesson 5, students created this type of model where they took on roles representing components of the Serengeti system and acted out interactions between wildebeest and grass.
What is a kinesthetic model?
When Serengeti National Park was created, conflicts arose over land use because of differing views about this relationship between humans and the natural world.
What is the nature-culture relationship?
Scientists used this to detect diseases like anthrax.
What is blood analysis?
A bone marrow fat percentage of 95% indicated this health status, while 60% indicated nutritional stress.
What is healthy/well-fed (or not experiencing starvation)?
Wildebeest leave the west region when these two events occur, typically around July.
What are fires and food drying up?
This is the strategy for protecting ecosystems and species for future generations, which was developed for the Serengeti.
What is a conservation plan?
Migration increases wildebeest carrying capacity primarily by allowing the population to access more of this resource across different regions at different times, rather than staying in one location.
What is food (or grass/nutritious grass)?