GREATER KUDU

 

 

General Characteristics

  • Large and elegant with long slender legs and characteristics maned hump on the shoulders.

  • Overall pelage color is gray- brown to rufous with a neck usually grayer then the rest of the body.

  • This is most pronounced in older bulls.  Six to ten clearly defined vertical white stripes are present on each side.

  • There is a distinct white chevron between the eyes with several white cheeked spots.

  • Both sexes have a long haired maned on the neck. In the bulls this extends to beyond the shoulders.

  •  Bulls also have a fringed of long hair on the throat and lower neck.

  • The tail is bushy dark above and white below and may have a dark tip

Head to body Length : 2.3 to 2.9 meters

Tail Length : 43 cm

Horn Length : 120 cm average ( along curve 187 cm )

Shoulder Height : 1.4 to1.55 meter

Weight : .16 kg ( calf)

270 kg ( Bull)

Range –  Rough Hill terrain of  East, Central and South Africa 

Habitat –  Woodlands, savannah, associations but extending into more arid areas where there thickets which provide cover and adicuate food supplies 

Food -grasses, predominantly browsers. leaves shoots and also eat seed pods

Status – They are endangered in Somalia and Uganda and some areas ok.

This is to watch for.

Reason For Status : Habitat loss, prey of lion, leopard, wild dogs and spotted hyenas

Gestation :  270 days

Lifespan : 20 years in captivity / 23 years in the wild

 

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