The Greater Kudu: The Antelope With the Spiral Horns

Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The greater kudu is one of the most striking antelopes in Africa. Its coat is grey-brown with a set of thin white stripes down the sides, and it has large rounded ears and a shaggy fringe under the throat. The bulls carry the horns that make the species famous: long, spiralling and very impressive.

Photo: Derek Keats, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A male's horns twist through two and a half turns or more and can be well over a metre long, measured along the curve. They are not shed, so they keep growing through the animal's life. Females have no horns. The bulls use them in sparring contests, rather than serious fights, to settle who is dominant.

Photo: Giles Laurent, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Kudus live in woodland and scrub in eastern and southern Africa, in countries such as Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Kenya. They browse on leaves, shoots and fruit, and they are shy animals that tend to freeze in cover when alarmed. A kudu can jump a fence higher than you would expect, which is a challenge for farmers.

Photo: Axel Tschentscher, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In protected areas such as Kruger National Park or Etosha, visitors often spot them at waterholes at dusk. They have been hunted for meat and for their horns, which are used to make traditional trumpets, but they are not currently considered to be under serious threat across their range.

Photo: Sanjay Acharya, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I know the greater kudu from photographs, and every time I look at a bull's horns I am amazed they can carry them so easily. Have you ever seen one in the wild?