African wildebeests are like clueless couples that get hacked to pieces in horror movies. Time after time, year after year, giant herds of the animals creep to the edge of the Mara River in Kenya and start to drink, seemingly oblivious to danger.
The spectacle in countless nature documentaries can bring viewers to the edge of their seats. They want to warn them. There are huge crocodiles in the river! Don’t they see the danger? But by this point, the herd is already leaping into the water, the crocs have grabbed a few by their throats and are logrolling to rip away limbs. In no time, the hoofs of hundreds of dead wildebeests are pointing skyward.
It looks awful, but according to a surprising new report led by researchers at Yale University, the yearly massacre of 6,000 wildebeest on the Serengeti is good for the Mara River watershed.
Amongst things a human can't
is comprehend life as ruminant
who must cross a river
where crocodiles slither
to be ecological lubricant.
If your role is lion-hyena feast...
Nu? What to do? Call a priest?
What sort of a god
could be so hard
as to create the life of a wildebeest?