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The Serengeti: Mega-Migration and Super Diversity
June 16, 2021 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
The Serengeti ecosystem spans much of northern Tanzania into southern Kenya in East Africa and covers 12,000 sq. km (5,695 sq. miles). It is famous for one of the most spectacular mass game migrations in the world, involving over 1 million blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), 200,000 plains zebra (Equus burchelli), and 400,000 Thomson’s gazelle (Gazella thomsoni). The migration represents one of the last remnants of a large, mammal-dominated ecosystem which has existed in Africa since at least the Pleistocene (the Ice Age epoch 2.5 million years to 11,700 years ago).
In tropical latitudes, the Serengeti hosts a vastly diverse and vibrant fauna: many species of large, medium and small herbivores, an extensive range of their predators and scavengers, plus an exotic avifauna of many hundreds of species and important invertebrates at the base of the ecosystem’s structure.
Come with Bexar Audubon Society as we experience a virtual visit to this fascinating piece of the African continent with Peter Roberts.
Peter Roberts is based in Britain and lives on the Scottish island of Islay. A keen naturalist since childhood in London, birds are his main passion, but whale-watching, African big game, snorkeling, and insects are all areas of further interest. A life of wildlife-related work has included nature reserve management, teaching wildlife field courses, ornithological survey and research, environmental consultancy, managing bird-banding observatories and the Aldabra Research Station in the Indian Ocean. Peter has an MSc in woodland invertebrate ecology and has published research on various subjects from the feeding ecology of fruit bats to bird migration, identification and behaviour through to ecology of seabirds and Red-billed Choughs.
Peter has led and arranged over 300 birding and wildlife tours over the past 45 years, finding over 7,000 bird species in over 100 countries worldwide from Antarctica to the Arctic and to all seven continents. His particular passion and favorite destination is Tanzania and the Serengeti, where he has visited on 35 occasions.
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87180151842?pwd=MWlxc3ZnMTJTK0I1b3V0blZVTFRiQT09
