The book of antelopes, vol. 4 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 4 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
“I was told by Messrs. Hobley and Bird-Thompson, on their return
from a trip up the Tana river in 1891, that many of these
Antelopes had fallen victims to the cattle disease (anthrax), and
that they found several dead in the bush between the river and the
northern boundaries of the Elkambani. These beautiful beasts are
bush feeders. They should be sought for in the early morning and
again in the evening, in the open bush which usually fringes thick
bush, in which they take up their quarters for the day. They are
generally found in small parties of two or three does and a buck,
though, like the Bushbuck, both single bucks and does are often
seen by themselves. At Marereni, in 1886, I witnessed a fight
between two bucks. On emerging from the bush, I suddenly came
across them, and watched them for about a quarter of an hour as
they fought with great fury, in spite of my being to windward of
them, and not more than 400 yards off at the time. They fought so
furiously, and kept their heads together so long, that I thought
they had got their horns locked together, and I attempted to take
advantage of them whilst in this position, and ran across the
sandy open space intervening between us, but before I got within
range they separated and bolted. The jumping powers of the Lesser
Kudu are simply marvellous. When I first went to Africa, I kept a
record of the length of the strides of the various game-beasts
when at full gallop, but unfortunately lost it, and never took the
subject up again. I remember, however, measuring the jump of one
of these beasts, which struck me at the time as being very
wonderful. She had been chased by a hyæna along a narrow footpath
in a dense bush. In the middle of a path was a thick green bush
about 5 ft. high, round which the path took a turn, and then went
straight on again. The Kudu had taken a flying leap over this
bush, and the distance between the spoor of her hind feet where
she took off and the edge of the bush was 15 ft. The diameter of
the bush was 6 ft., and the distance from the edge of the bush on
the further side to where she landed—_i.e._ to the spoor-marks of
her hind feet—another 10 ft., in all 31 feet. The hyæna had given
up the chase some 30 yards further on, where the Kudu had entered
the bush. The note of alarm of this beast is a distinct and loud
bark, much resembling that of an ‘old man’ baboon. Lesser Kudu
appear to bark only when they scent danger but are unable to see
it. As I have said before, many natives will not touch the flesh
of this beast, as it causes them great pain in the mouth and
gums.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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