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February 15, 2006

African Field Notes: The Greater Kudu

The Greater Kudu is perhaps my favorite kind of African antelope. You'll often see their horns used as decoration in game lodges, but the real live thing is a beautiful member of the African animal kingdom.

The Kudu is rather large, with very distinctive spiral horns, that can grow as long as 72 inches, making 2 1/2 graceful twists. They have brown fur with stripes and spots.

Kudu live in the woodland bushveld. They eat grasses and leaves.

Kudu also are a very tasty game meat, often found in biltong, a South African dried meat snack.

Another weird fact: There's a rather disturbing sport in Africa called Kudu Dung Spitting, which sounds exactly like it is...

Latin Name: Tragelaphus strepsiceros

Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!

Posted by sorsha at February 15, 2006 9:47 PM