Greater Kudu

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PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

This spiral-horned antelope is bluish gray to grayish-brown in color and has seven to ten vertical white stripes on its flanks. Its maximum shoulder height is over five feet, and males weigh as much as 720 pounds. Females are somewhat smaller.

A fringe of long erectile hair extends from the chin down the length of the neck, and another stretches along the back to the tail.

The male is further distinguished by his long horns which make two or three complete twists as the diverge. The horns can grow over four feet long.

DIET:

This antelope feeds mainly by browsing and is able to pick out scanty, high quality foods from much poorer surrounding vegetation. It eats fruits, seed pods, flowers and leaves, often choosing plants that other herbivores reject because of unpleasant taste.

REPRODUCTION and GROWTH:

Individual females separate from their groups to give birth and then rejoin the groups as their calves grow. The young tend to be born during the early part of the wet season (January-March). Single offspring weigh about eight pounds and are born after a gestation period of seven to eight months.

Captive Greater Kudu have lived twenty years.

BEHAVIOR:

The Greater Kudu is extremely wary and depends on woodlands and thickets for concealment as it browses.

Greatly enlarged ears suggest an acute sense of hearing. The Greater Kudu seldom vocalizes except for an alarm bark and a few mother/infant calls.

The animal has the often fatal habit of stopping after a short run from danger to look back. It is most active at dawn, dusk, and during the night.

The gait of the Greater Kudu may appear clumsy, but its leaping ability is remarkable.

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT:

The Greater Kudu prefers woodlands and thickets, especially the hilly rough terrain of East, Central and South Africa.

NOTE:

The horns of the Greater Kudu are prized by sportsmen for their trophy value. Farmers sometimes kill the animals because they damage crops, and the animals are harvested as a meat source. These factors, along with habitat destruction, have greatly reduced their range and overall numbers.