Lesser kudu Lesser kudu The lesser kudu ("Tragelaphus imberbis") is a forest antelope found in East Africa. It is placed in the genus "Tragelaphus" and family Bovidae. It was first described by the English zoologist Edward Blyth in 1869. The head-and-body length is typically . Males reach about at the shoulder, while females reach . Males typically weigh and females . The females and juveniles have a reddish-brown coat, while the males become yellowish grey or darker after the age of 2 years. Horns are present only on males. The spiral horns are long, and have two to two-and-a-half twists. A pure
Kudu Kudus are browsers and eat leaves and shoots. In dry seasons they eat wild watermelons and other fruit for their liquid content and the natural sugars that they provide. The lesser kudu is less dependent on water sources than the greater kudu. Predators, such as lions and leopards, African wild dogs, hyenas, and sometimes pythons, hunt kudu and their young. Kudu numbers are also affected by humans hunting them for their meat, hides and horns, or using their habitats for charcoal burning and farming. Kudus were highly susceptible to the rinderpest virus (now eradicated after a vaccination program in domestic