THE GREATER KUDU 93 



The fourth stripe is usually the longest, while the seventh is 

 the shortest. Perhaps the two most distinctive features of the 

 Greater Kudu are its long beard and interocular white band. 

 Only the males possess horns. 



Measurements of an adult male shot at Gidil near Sheikh : 



Length from nose to root of tail 



Length of tail 



Height at shoulder . 



Girth round the body 



Weight 



Horns : 

 Length straight. 

 Length on front curve 

 Tip to tip . 

 Circumference 



Distribution. — Greater Kudu are invariably found in rough 

 hilly or mountainous country, and as a rule fairly close to water. 

 They are plentiful all along the Golis Range and on Waggar 

 Mountain, the Negegr plateau, and some of the hills around Sog- 

 sodi. They are also to be found on the hills around Issituggan, 

 and from there onwards into the Gadabursi Hills. 



Habits. — The male Greater Kudu is seldom seen alone except 

 in the breeding season, when the does leave the hills and descend 

 to the plains or valleys to drop their young. Occasionally a 

 very old bull is driven out from a herd and forced to roam the 

 hills alone. A herd usually consists of one full-grown male and 

 three or four females and young. Sometimes a herd will be 

 found to consist of tvv^o or three young males and about the same 

 number of females. 



The adult male will sometimes leave his herd and wander 

 by himself for days. When thus found alone he will occasion- 

 ally allow you to approach within thirty or forty yards and 

 will stand snorting and pawing the ground as though defying 

 you to go nearer, whilst at other times he will not allow you 

 to get within two or three hundred yards of him. He spends 

 the heat of the day in the shade on the hillsides and the 



