What was really going on in that wildebeest video?

WRITING | RESEARCH

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The internet sure loves a touching tale of animal friendship. You can barely gulp down your morning coffee before scrolling across an article about Fred the Labrador and his best buddy Dennis the Duckling. So when a video surfaced last month of a wildebeest in South Africa’s Marloth Park desperately nudging another in an apparent attempt to revive his fallen comrade, a decidedly anthropomorphic slant emerged: this was wildebeest kinship at play, a testament to the unbreakable bonds of gregarious grazers. Was it, though?

 

Thanks to some colourful headlines – “The wildebeest who wouldn’t give up! Huge beast refuses to leave a dying friend and miraculously nudges him back to its feet with its horns” – the story struck a chord, and viewers were suitably astonished … continue reading.