WHEN YOU
LOOK
Western Bluebird
The Kudu
When you look at the Kudu, you see wisdom.
Kudu in Orma J. Smith Museum
While the Kudu may seem like a relatively simple animal, it is perhaps more complex in its nature than we know. When I first saw the Kudu in the Orma J. Smith museum, I noticed his eyes. Although he was no longer living, there seemed to be wisdom and something like pity in his eyes, as if he knows a secret we don't. Their eyes are not the only mysterious part about Kudus. Their horns are long and majestic and their ears are much bigger than ours, which causes me to wonder, what can they hear that we don't? As I dived into my research, the Kudu's wisdom became evident.
The kudu is a woodland antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. There are two types of kudu: lesser and greater. The greater kudu is much larger in terms of body and horn length, which can grow to be 5 feet long! The greater kudu males also have a tuft of hair growing under their heads. Lesser kudu, on the other hand, have more white stripes on their bodies and they have two white marks underneath their neck. Both greater and lesser kudu have a hump at their shoulders. They are both herbivores who feed on leaves, shoots, fruits, seedpods, and grass. The kudu’s predators are lions, leopards, spotted hyenas, African wild dogs, and poachers. The kudu is also threatened by habitat loss for agricultural expansion and charcoal burning and hunting. People hunt Kudus for their valuable horns.
Female Lesser Kudu (awf.org)
Male Greater Kudu (kidadl.com)
A notable time during the kudu’s life span is the mating season. This period of time is the main interaction between males and females. During the mating process, the males are the ones who court the females by neck wrestling, lip curling (flehmen response), and resting the head on the female’s rump. If the female allows the male to mate with her and reproduction is successful, she will have a calf in about eight months. If another male comes to fight for the female, the two males will engage in a horn locking ritual, where they use their horns to slowly push their opponent back. They then will stand sideways in front of the other and make themselves look as large as possible. If the other male kudu submits, the dominance of a male has been asserted.