“Butragus corniculatus, Blyth, MS.,” Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 43 (1872).
Connochætes gnu, Hunter, in Willoughby’s East Africa, p. 288.
Connochætes taurinus, Scl. List An. Z. S. (8) p. 150 (1883); Flow. & Gars. Cat. Ost. Coll. Surg. p. 275 (1884); Jent. Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 139 (1887); Crawshay, P. Z. S. 1890, p. 663 (Nyasa); Flow. & Lyd. Mamm. p. 336 (1891); Nicolls & Egl. Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 47, pl. iii. fig. 8 (head) (1892); Ward, Horn Meas. p. 72, fig. (horns) (1892); Jent. Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 170 (1892); Lyd. Horns and Hoofs, p. 205, fig. 42 (head) (1893).
Catoblepas reichei, Noack, Zool. Anz. 1893, p. 153 (Upper Limpopo).
Vernacular Names:—Blue Wildebeest of English colonists (Selous); Bastard or Blauw Wildebeeste of Dutch colonists (Harris); Kokoong of Bachapins (Burchell); Kokoon of Bechuanas (Harris); Nyumbo in Zambesia (Peters & Kirk); Kaop and Baas of Namaquas and Hottentots (Harris); Imbutuma of Kaffirs (Drummond); Ink[=o]ne-kn[=o]e of Matabilis; Ee-vumba of Makalakas; Numbo of Masubias; Minyumbwe of Batongas; Unzozo of Makubas (Selous); Ink[=o]ne-k[=o]ne of Swazis (Rendall).
Height at withers about 48 inches.
Fur short and close, with peculiar vertical lines of differently directed hairs on the sides of the neck and body, whence the epithet “Brindled.” General colour dull grey, lighter and more tinged with rufous on the rump and limbs. Face (except a paler area between the eyes), chin, dorsal and throat manes deep black. Tail long, its vertebræ almost reaching to the hock; its upper surface coloured like the rump, its under surface and the long tuft black.
Lower part of face and lacrymal region heavily tufted, the hairs directed downwards; the short ones of the terminal inch on the tip of the muzzle, however, pointed upwards.
Skull large and heavy, with a long muzzle. That of an old male measures as follows:—basal length 18·1 inches, greatest breadth 7·7, muzzle to orbit 13·3.
Horns placed so that the hinder edge of their palm is little more than level with the back of the skull; the palm itself comparatively low, smooth, small in comparison with the enormous palm of C. gnu. Beyond the palm the basal two-thirds of the horn points directly outwards, while the ends are curved upwards, forwards, and inwards. A fine pair of horns will measure 26 or 28 inches between the outer sides of the curves of the two horns.