Black wildebeest
Where it lives alongside the blue wildebeest, the two species can hybridise, and this is regarded as a potential threat to the maintenance of the species. The black wildebeest was once very numerous and was present in Southern Africa in vast herds, but by the end of the 19th century, it had nearly been hunted to extinction and fewer than 600 animals remained. A small number of individuals was still present in game reserves and at zoos, and from these, the population was rescued.
Wildebeest
Dutch settlers first "discovered" wildebeest in about 1700, on their way to the interior of South Africa. Due to their resemblance to wild cattle, these people called them "wild ox" or "wildebeest". The blue wildebeest was first known to westerners in the northern part of South Africa a century later, in the 1800s.