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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Scientists have discovered a mass migration of animals in Africa that reaches farther than any other documented on the continent.
Wildlife experts managed to collar a number of zebras in a herd of about 2,000 and discovered they make a roundtrip journey of 300 miles through southern Africa. The trek starts in floodplains near the border of Namibia and Botswana at the beginning of the wet season. The animals follow a route across the Chobe (CHOH'-bay) River and end at the seasonally full waterholes and nutritional grass of Nxai (neye) Pan National Park in Botswana. The zebras spend about 10 weeks there before heading back.
The entire journey occurs within a vast conservation area, encompassing national parks in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Angola.
At a time when mankind's encroachment on wildlife habitats is increasingly leading to extinction, World Wildlife Fund scientist Robin Naidoo says it shows "nature still has some surprises."
The findings were published this week in the conservation journal Oryx.
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APPHOTO XDF101: In this undated handout photo supplied by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a zebra and calf are seen at a watering hole in northern Namibia. Thousands of zebra were monitored during a 500 kilometers (300 miles) roundtrip journey, a newly discovered trek that wildlife experts say reaches farther than any other known land migration in Africa. The newfound migration is a rare bright spot at a time when mass movements of wildlife are disappearing because of fencing, land occupation and other human pressures, a conservation specialist said. (AP Photo/HO-World Wildlife Fund International - Martin Harvey) MANDATORY CREDIT (30 May 2014)
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APPHOTO XDF102: In this undated handout photo supplied by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), zebra are seen at a watering hole in northern Namibia. Thousands of zebra were monitored during a 500 kilometers (300 miles) roundtrip journey, a newly discovered trek that wildlife experts say reaches farther than any other known land migration in Africa. The newfound migration is a rare bright spot at a time when mass movements of wildlife are disappearing because of fencing, land occupation and other human pressures, a conservation specialist said. (AP Photo/HO-World Wildlife Fund International - Martin Harvey) MANDATORY CREDIT (30 May 2014)
<<APPHOTO XDF102 (05/30/14)££
APPHOTO XDF103: In this undated handout photo supplied by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), zebra stampede at a watering hole in northern Namibia. Thousands of zebra were monitored during a 500 kilometers (300 miles) roundtrip journey, a newly discovered trek that wildlife experts say reaches farther than any other known land migration in Africa. The newfound migration is a rare bright spot at a time when mass movements of wildlife are disappearing because of fencing, land occupation and other human pressures, a conservation specialist said. (AP Photo/HO-World Wildlife Fund International - Martin Harvey) MANDATORY CREDIT (30 May 2014)
<<APPHOTO XDF103 (05/30/14)££
APPHOTO XDF104: In this undated handout photo supplied by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), zebra and a calf are seen at a watering hole in northern Botswana. Thousands of zebra were monitored during a 500 kilometers (300 miles) roundtrip journey, a newly discovered trek that wildlife experts say reaches farther than any other known land migration in Africa. The newfound migration is a rare bright spot at a time when mass movements of wildlife are disappearing because of fencing, land occupation and other human pressures, a conservation specialist said. (AP Photo/HO-World Wildlife Fund International - Martin Harvey) MANDATORY CREDIT (30 May 2014)
<<APPHOTO XDF104 (05/30/14)££
APPHOTO XDF105: In this undated handout photo supplied by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), zebra run on a plain in northern Botswana. Thousands of zebra were monitored during a 500 kilometers (300 miles) roundtrip journey, a newly discovered trek that wildlife experts say reaches farther than any other known land migration in Africa. The newfound migration is a rare bright spot at a time when mass movements of wildlife are disappearing because of fencing, land occupation and other human pressures, a conservation specialist said. (AP Photo/HO-World Wildlife Fund International - Martin Harvey) MANDATORY CREDIT (30 May 2014)
<<APPHOTO XDF105 (05/30/14)££
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