the famous kudu

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Bovidae

Genus: Tragelaphus

Species: T. strepsiceros

Size: Approximately 1.2 to 1.5 m (4 to 5 ft)

Weight: Male: 225 to 357.7 kg (495 to 787 lb); Female: 180 to 235 kg (396 to 517 lb)

Life Span: Approximately 15 years in the wild

Diet: Mainly grass, roots, leaves, fruits and tubers

Range: Southern and Eastern Africa to as far north as Ethiopia

Habitat: Stony, sparsely to densely forested flat hilly and mountain country

Age of Sexual Maturity: 1 to 2 years

Gestation Period: Approximately 6 to 7 months

Number of Offspring: one (rarely two)

• Kudus are one of the largest varieties of antelopes.
• They are mainly woodland animals and suffer from habitat destruction. Also, they are an important source of food for predators like lions and spotted hyenas.
• Kudus are also hunted for their horns which are regarded as valuable trophies. Apart for their horns, they are hunted for their meat in some places and also because they are considered as pests for occasional crop damage.
• The horn of this animal is used as a musical instrument in some places. In certain Jewish ceremonies, another form of this horn is used as a shofar. The horn is also used in Scouting movement’s Wood Badge training program to signal the start of a training course or activity.
• Kudu horns are spiral in shape and allow the males to spar by interlocking them. The males then continue with their tryst by shoving and twisting each other until one of the opponents is knocked off balance and thrown down. There are even reports of such trysts ending in deaths.
• Kudus make a peculiar gruff like barking sound which is considered as one of the loudest sounds made by antelope.
• The markings and cryptic coloring on their skin protect the kudus by camouflaging them. If they are alarmed, they stand very still and this makes it very difficult to spot them.
• Although these animals are very home-bound and limit their movements to a small home range, they are known to wander more widely in search of food during the dry season.
  Female kudus and their young ones are joined by the males only during the mating season. Otherwise, they limit themselves to small groups of six or eight members.
• At the time of birth, the pregnant females move out of their groups leaving the newborn to lie for around 4 to 5 weeks. Gradually, the calf starts to accompany its mother for short periods and by 3 or 4 months stays with her all the time.
• the kudu can jump easily 3m high which makes them a problem animal because they jump the fences into other peoples farms and cause damage.
• the white lines on the back of their backs act as camouflage which looks like light shinning through the bushes on its back which makes it difficult to see.
• males only have horns, the horns consist of 3 curls which takes 3 years for each curl to grow. when fully sexually matures the gain white tips on the end of the horns due to the fact from scratching the horns on the ground or tree's to show dominance or to sharpen. 
• kudu can hear up to 3 km away which makes it hard to sneak up on and has a keen sense of smell.
• is a flagship specie for bush veld and sickelbsuh is dependent on the kudu because of the fact that the kudu is the only animal which eats the leaves