Stunning images confirm world’s largest land migration of mammals in history

Earth’s largest land migration of mammals has been confirmed, with observers calling it a “remarkable and unmatched wildlife phenomenon”.

Two planes captured a staggering 330,000 images across a 122,774 square kilometre African landscape — an area roughly twice the size of Tasmania. Of these 59,718 were analysed and combined with radio-collar tracking data to create the estimate.

Stunning images shared with Yahoo News this week show grasslands entirely covered in galloping animals in an event that’s been dubbed the Great Nile Migration. A higher estimate, suggests almost 6 million antelope moved across South Sudan between April 28 and May 15, 2023.

It was the first time in history that a comprehensive aerial survey of wildlife has been conducted in South Sudan. The region has been subject to decades of war and civil unrest which has impacted both humans and wildlife.

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Peter Fearnhead, the CEO of African Parks, described the results as “staggering”. “The astonishing scale of the migration is only equalled by the responsibility to ensure that it survives into the future in an extremely complex landscape,” he said.

The antelope species captured in the survey included:

Are the results good news for Africa’s wildlife?

The survey was a collaboration between conservation non-profit African Parks and the Government of South Sudan.

While the findings are good news, they come with a warning that several species face threats from unmanaged exploitation and this could result in a collapse of migratory patterns, impacting the traditional communities who depend on wildlife to survive. Its authors noted populations of sedentary creatures like hippo, buffalo, elephant, warthog and cheetah have plummeted since the 1980s.

Noting that wildlife faces unprecedented amounts of commercial-scale poaching, Fearnhead believes successful management can only be achieved by bringing the South Sudan’s ethnic groups together.

“Working with these local communities to protect this vital ecosystem will help perpetuate this global phenomenon whilst also bringing about stability, safety and security and creating a sustainable future for the people who live in this area,” he said.

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