KUDU 341 



THE KUDU 



(^Strepsiceros cap ens is) 



Agarzin, ABYSSINIAN ; Eebala-bala, Amandebili ; Ee-zilai"wa, 

 Makalaka ; Dzvar, Masara ; Godir, Somali ; I tola, Basuto ; 

 Itshongonons, SWAZI ; Kudu, HOTTENTOT (?) ; Musiloiin, 

 Batonga ; Ngomo, Chilala and Chibisa ; Noro, Mashona ; 

 Tata, M'KUA ; Toio, Bechuana, Barotsi, and Ngami ; Unza, 

 Masubia ; Unziva, Makuba. 



(Plate xiii, fig. i) 



With the lordly kudu we reach the last genus of African antelopes, 

 and at the same time one of the handsomest and most striking 

 representatives of the whole tribe. As to the origin of the name 

 there is some doubt, although, in the opinion of Mr. Selous, it is most 

 probably of Hottentot derivation, as it is certainly not Dutch. Kudu 

 are very closely allied to bushbucks, with which, in the form of the 

 horns, they are intimately connected by the situtunga. The horns, 

 however, form a fuller spiral than in any of the bushbuck group ; the 

 ears are larger ; the tail is shorter and more bushy, not reaching the 

 hocks ; and both sexes, which are fully striped and have the face- 

 markings of the tragelaphine subfamily fully developed, are nearly 

 similar in colouring. There is a mane on the neck, continued along 

 the back as a white crest ; but the hair of the body is short. The 

 skull, as in eland, has a deep depression in the forehead, and large 

 unossified spaces in the neighbourhood of the nose -bones. The kudu, 

 or, as it is often called, to distinguish it from its smaller relative, 

 the greater kudu, is characterised by its large stature — from 4 feet 

 10 inches to 5 feet at the shoulder — the open corkscrew-like spiral 

 formed by the magnificent horns of the bucks, the presence of a thick 

 fringe of long hair on the throat, the great breadth of the ears, and 

 the absence of white throat-bands. The longest pair of horns on 

 record (belonging to Mr. F. H. Barber) measure 48|^ inches in a 

 straight line ; next to which is a pair with a length of 64 inches 

 along the front curve and 41 inches in the straight. The general 

 colouring is too well known to require description. 



In suitable, that is to say, in well-watered and more or less bush- 

 covered country, the kudu formerly ranged over the greater part of 



