The famous Masai Mara also known as The Mara is a game reserve located in Kenya bordering Serengeti national park in Tanzania both conservation areas renown for the great wildebeest’s migration. The name Masai is derived from the local Masai pastoralists who inhabit the area while the word Mara is also derived from a local Masai word translated to mean dotted.
Thompson’s gazelles are one of the gazelle species commonly seen in East Africa numbering up to 200,000. The name Thompson was derived from a Scottish explorer Joseph Thompson. Gazelles can stand at 60-70 cm tall and weigh 20-35 kilograms whereby males weigh heavier than females.
Thompson’s gazelles major predators are cheetahs that are able to march their unbelievable speeds, although cheetahs get chances of hunting down gazelles, sometimes they don’t succeed in the hunt as gazelles make quick and swift zigzags causing cheetahs to lose balance. Thompson gazelles can survive for 10 to 15 years in the wilderness.
Thompson’s gazelles in Masai Mara
Thompson’s gazelles in Masai Mara inhabit the short grasslands making it one of the common sightings during game drives at the reserve although it can also sometimes migrate to taller grasslands. Gazelles are the fourth fastest land animals on earth running up to 80 to 90 kilometres per hour.
Gazelles eat fresh grasses on the Masai Mara plains during the wet season and adapt to eating foliage from plant bushes and herbaceous during the dry seasons. Male gazelles court and mount female gazelles after confirming if she’s in estrus by sniffing urine. Gazelles produce 1 or 2 fawns twice a year after a gestation period of 5 to 6 months.
Although Thompsons gazelles are resistant to drought. They also take part in the annual great wildebeest migration. It begins from Ngorongoro conservation area through Serengeti national park to Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya. They usually stay a bit longer after the herds have moved ahead.
Thompson’s gazelles are able to participate in the migration because they eat the fresh newly grown grass. From the wildebeests and zebra foraging but during the wet seasons. They would rather move lazily or stay in one area where there is abundant pasture.
Thompson’s gazelles in Masai Mara are protected making it one of the conservation areas. With the largest number of this species, Thompson’s gazelles are important to the Masai Mara ecosystem and biodiversity. The major threat to Thompson gazelle’s population is infrastructural development, fire management and habitat modification.
