KUDU

any of certain handsome, slender antelopes of the genus Tragelaphus, family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla). The greater kudu (T. strepsiceros) lives in small groups in hilly bush country or open woods of eastern and southern Africa. It stands about 1.3 m (51 inches) at the shoulder. It has a fringe on the throat and a crest of hair on the neck and back, and it is reddish brown to blue-gray, with a white mark between the eyes and narrow, vertical white stripes on the body. The male has long, divergent, corkscrewlike horns. The lesser kudu (T. imberbis) lives in pairs or small groups in the hot, open bush country of eastern Africa. It stands about 1 m (39 inches) at the shoulder and is gray-brown to blue-gray, with markings like those of the greater kudu, but with two white patches on the throat and no throat fringe. It has smaller, more tightly spiraled horns. Both species browse on shrubs and tree leaves. Apart from mating periods, mature kudu live in segregated groups of males and females.