Lesser Kudu

The lesser kudu is elegant. It has a white stripe running down the back and 11-14 white stripes run off this central stripe down the sides. These stripes contrast with a reddish-brown background in females, with lighter undersides, and a grey background in males. Young are redder than females, but males turn grey at 1.5-2 years. The face has has a black stripe from each eye to the nose and a white stripe from each eye to the centre of the face. The lip area is white and there are four white spots on the lower jaw (two per side). There are white patches on the throat and chest, with a central black stripe spanning the chest area, and Both have about ten white stripes on their backs and two white tufts on the underside of the neck. The belly is white, the ears are large. The legs are fawn, with white patches above the hooves. The tail is brown above and white beneath with a black tip. Only males have horns, which measure about 70 cm (28 in) and have one twist.

The kudu is 1.10-1.75 m from the tip of the snout to the base of the tail and stands 0.9-1.1 m (35-43 in) tall at the shoulder. The tail ranges from 26-30 cm with up to 90 cm of additional hair length. range Females weigh 50-70 kg (110-150 lb) and males weigh 60-105 kg (130–230 lb). Males have horns ranging from 48-91 cm, have two longitudinal keels, twist 2.5 times, and a basal circumference of 15.6-17.1 cm. At the base, they span 6-12 mm; at their ends, they span 25-35 cm. The skull is long with a short cranium. The long nasal bones are narrowed in the center and form a 'V' shaped suture where they meet the frontals. The supraorbital foramina are within indentations and are elongated horizontally. The paraoccipital proccess are flat and wide and the teeth are hypsodont. The kudu occupies semi-arid areas, such as dry, flat, and densely thicketed areas of subtropical and tropical dry shrubland as well as woodlands and hilly land. It is rarely seen in open or cleared areas or long grass (6). It lives in eastern and north-eastern Africa - the Somali-Masai Arid Zone of Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Its range extends from ca. 12°N in the Awash area of Ethiopia southward through southern Ethiopia, much of Somalia except the north and northeast (east of 46° E and north of 08°N), most of Kenya except the southwest, extreme southeast Sudan, extreme northeast Uganda to northeast and central Tanzania. It is extinct in Djibouti (6) and its purported former occurrence in Saudi Arabia (7) is based on two sets of horns said to have originated from Saudi Arabia and one from southern Yemen. No live animals have been reported from the area and the true origin of those specimens remains in doubt; they may have been introduced or released from a collection. The kudu is closely associated with Acacia-Commiphora thornbush in north-eastern Africa (6). It has been recorded at about 1,740 m near Mt Kilimanjaro (8). The kudu is fairly solitary and shy. Females usually live in groups of two to five, ranging up to 24; males are often found alone. The kudu is mainly nocturnal and crepuscular and camouflages well when hiding in dense thickets and dry bush after sunrise. Its large ears aid in a well developed sense of hearing that warns it of potential predators. When startled, it will bark and runs in bounding leaps, holding the tail upright to reveal the white underside. It can jump more than 6 m (20 ft) and 2 m (6.6 ft) high and can reach running speeds of around 70 km/h (43 mph). It feeds at dusk and dawn. It is mainly a browser and eats a diverse variety of bush and tree leaves, shoots, twigs, fruits, grasses and herbs. It obtains most of its water requirements from its food plants. When males are large enough, they fight by locking horns and pressing their heads and horns together and try to force their horns down onto the nape of their opponent. Males and females fight each other for superiority, by standing up on hind legs to try to knock each other down, but the larger males normally win. Males show restraint and are never aggressive towards females, but females may butt their heads against the males. When males mount, they lay their neck and head down and onto the females back (11). Each female has her own, independent estrus cycle and is anestrus for only a couple of weeks (9). She is pregnant for 7.4-8.5 months and separates from her small group to give birth to one calf, weighing 4.0-7.5 kg. 50% of the calves die within the first 6 months, from disease and predation by leopards, hunting dogs and spotted hyenas, and only 25% survive to reach 3 years of age. Males begin horn growth after the first 6-9 months and reach full length after 3 years. Young males stay with their mothers for 1.5-2 years, before they leave and travel alone or in small sporadic male groups (10). Young females form small groups with their mother or siblings. The kudu becomes sexually mature at 1.25-1.50 years, but males do not gain social status to reproduce until they reach the age of 4-5 years (11). The average life span is 10-15 years in the wild and 15 years in captive, with one captive reaching 19.8 years (9). IUCN list the kudu as conservation dependent (9), but Lower Risk (1). The total population is estimated to be at least 118,000 (6), about 33% being in protected areas. Numbers are considered to be in decline overall, due to hunting for sport and its meat and horns, habitat loss, overgrazing, increase in pastoralism and outbreaks of rinderpest, which led to a decline in the mid 1990s (6). The horns are hollowed out and used as wind instruments, honey containers and in spiritual rituals as they are thought to house powerful spirits as well as being a symbol of male virility (2,4). In Tsavo National Park, elephant populations have altered the vegetative landscape.The level of decline is predicted to reach at least 25% over a period of three generations (21-24 years), so approaching the threshold for Vulnerable. The kudu will probably persist in the arid scrublands of northeastern Africa, if human and livestock densities stay relatively low in extensive parts of its range such as northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. Its status may eventually decline to threatened. Its shyness and preference for thick cover help it withstand considerable hunting pressure (6). Lesser kudu are also vulnerable to the rinderpest virus which periodically breaks out and reduces populations (5). The kudu’s long-term survival prospects would be enhanced by improved protection and management of the protected areas that support substantial populations. Its value as a trophy animal gives it high potential for increased revenue generation in extensive bushlands (6).The lesser kudu is part of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association's studbook program which ensures the most possible genetic diversity within the captive breeding population (6). The lesser kudu was placed in the genus Tragelaphus. It was described by Edward Blyth in 1869. It was thought to be a smaller version of the greater kudu, but is now is considered to be a more primitive species, being the most primitive spiral-horned antelope. Its evolutionary line diverged in the late Miocene, possibly 10 million years ago. There may have been an early hybridization between the proto-lesser kudu and proto-nyala, but these lines have been separate for most of the evolutionary history. The lesser kudu being the most basal member of the 'Tragelaphus' group. In 1912, Edmund Heller established the genus Ammelaphus for the Lesser Kudu, the type species being A. strepsiceros (2). The lesser kudu was raised to a genus level by Peter Grubb and Colin Groves in 2011 (3), as it represents an evolutionary line that has remained separate since the end of the Miocene (5.8 million years ago). Grubb and Groves state that Ammelaphus has two species, the northern (A. imberbis from Ethiopia and Somalia) and southern (A. australis from Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan and southern Somalia). The lesser kudu has 38 chromosomes, in both sexes. Unlike other tragelaphids, the X chromosome and Y chromosome are compound and fused with autosomes from ancestors having a greater chromosome number (5).