Plains zebra (Equus quagga, subgenus Hippotigris) seen on a wildlife safari in Serengeti National Park, in eastern Mara & northeastern Simiyu Regions, Tanzania, East Africa. Greeks and Romans called zebras Hippotigris, meaning “horse tiger,” its present subgenus name. Established in 1940, Serengeti National Park is honored by UNESCO on the World Heritage List. Through the park runs the Great Migration — the world's most massive land animal migration (in terms of total body weight). This annual circuit of millions of wildebeest, zebras, gazelles, and other herbivores developed in the 1960s and circles from Ngorongoro Conservation Area clockwise through Serengeti National Park to the northwest and through Kenya's Maasai Mara game reserve then back. The Great Migration's crossing of the Mara River occurs twice: northwards around late July to August then turning southwards around the last two weeks of October through early November. Wildebeest (genus Connochaetes) often graze symbiotically in mixed herds with zebra (subgenus Hippotigris). Zebras excel at sight, navigation, and defense and eat long grass. Wildebeest have superior sense of hearing and smell (to locate water and predators) and crop short grass with square lips. UNESCO honors the NCA as a World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve. The Serengeti Plains and Ecosystem span the Mara and Arusha Regions of Tanzania.
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