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Crazy Alphabet Challenge (with a twist): the letter K: Koudou

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source of the photo above:  https://x-toutlesanimaux-x.skyrock.com/3172019903-Le-grand-koudou.html

I searched high and low to find the name of an animal starting with the letter K which was original in the French language. Unfortunately, most of the animals starting with the letter K are the same (except for the writing mostly) in both the English and French languages. So I decided against presenting for example the kangourou and wanted to show to you this antelope named « Koudou » which is aptly named a Kudu in English. 

There are two types of « Koudous », the great Kudu of southern and eastern Africa and the lesser or smaller Kudu from eastern Africa. The « Koudou » is a type of antelope and considered by the Africans as part deer and  part ox or zebra. 

The « Koudou » lives mostly in moutainous areas which are difficult to reach and navigate through and where they can hide in the trees and also use them for shade as it will usually lay down low during the hottest part of the day. They primarily stay away from open areas like the savannahs as they will be open to predators. 

Most male « Koudous » are bachelors and live alone and only come in contact with females (or other males which they might fight) during reproduction season. The females Kudus, on the other hand, live in groups of 5 up to 20 females and calves. Some groups have been seen as high as 40 in the group. 

The horns of the Kudu are magnificent and large and elaborately curved as you can see on the photo. They can measure up to 5 feet long (150 cm). For the males, these horns offer a means to defend themselves although they will prefer to run away or hide. But they have been known to use their horns in a face-off with other male kudus or predators. Kudus are also known to be great kickers and can easily break a wild dog or jackal’s neck or back. « Koudous » are also fantastic jumpers and can clear a fence as high as 8 feet (2.5 meters) high. 

Kudus are not hunters but gatherers and browsers. They will eat leaves and shoots. When they are faced with dry weather, the Kudus are resourceful as they will find and eat wild watermelons and other fruits to quench their thirst.

The word Kudu or « Koudou » are pronounced the same way and come from the Afrikaan language and name « koedoe ». 

Well, that’s it, that’s all folks. Come back next week for the letter L. 

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Written by HistoryGal

17 Comments

    • I loved that animal too mostly because of his or her very ornate antlers. It was a new one for me too as I had never heard of a koudou before. Thanks for visiting, commenting and up voting. Hope the holidays are treating you well…

    • I also had never heard of kudus before. Those horns are magnificent and a great weapon although they are not used so much in that fashion. Thank you for reading, commenting and up voting.

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