How is climate change affecting animal migration?

The Climate Question

Every year, the great migration sees hundreds of thousands of wildebeest, gazelles, zebras and antelopes migrate from the Serengeti plains in Tanzania to the Maasai Mara in Kenya, in search of water and juicy grass. But rising temperatures and unpredictable weather are changing this epic animal journey dramatically. It’s the same for great white sharks, which are being spotted in areas where they’d never normally live.

Tanzanian safari guide Neema Amos takes us into the Serengeti to explain why the wildebeest migration is so important. And shark expert Trisha Atwood reveals how these changes affect not just the animals, but our fight against climate change itself.

Presenter Sophie Eastaugh is joined by: Neema Amos, Safari Guide in Tanzania Trisha Atwood, Associate Professor of Watershed Sciences at Utah State University Joseph Ogutu, Senior Statistician at University of Hohenheim

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Producers: Sophie Eastaugh and Octavia Woodward Editors: Graihagh Jackson and Tom Bigwood Series Producer: Simon Watts Sound design and mixing: Tom Brignell Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown

Archive from the Sir David Attenborough programme, ‘Wildebeest: The Super Herd’, BBC Two, 2008

This programme was first broadcast in March 2024