Just wondering from you experts out there. To my knowledge, there are only two Kudu. The greater and lesser. No other subspecies. Yet I have a couple of aquaintences that swear there are about six types of Kudu. I'm calling BS since mamal taxonomy only recognizes the greater and lesser as the sub species. The lesser only being found from Tanzania to ethiopia. Any comments??........wapiti7

There are also Western Kudu, East African Kudu apart from Southern and Lesser Kudu. I dont no is the Eastern Cape Kudu a extra species or not maby there are even more ...

The problem is, is that I don't find any evidence of these sub-species anywhere or in any mamology book! Could it be that these sub-species are figments of our imagination that are just accepted in the hunters mind but with no proof? A great analogy is a whitetail deer. A buck from canada looks a little different and is much larger than one from mississippi. Yet they are still both whitetail. My 2 cents.......wapiti7

I don't know which reference sources you use but, in Dorst & Dandelot's "Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Africa" it is stated, under Intraspecific Variation, The Southern Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros strepsiceros),larger, 9-10 transversal stripes, the East African Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros bea), brighter-coloured, with 6-8 stripes, and the Western Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros cottoni) is paler with fewer stripes. So, three types of Greater Kudu and one type of Lesser Kudu, total of 4. The Lesser Kudu is not a sub-species but a different species, Tragelaphus imberbis.

Of course taxonomists aren't always in total agreement. In Jonathon Kingdon's Pocket Guide to African Mammals he says the T.s.s. range is Southern and Eastern Africa, he also agrees with the T.s.c. range but indicates the Tragelaphus strepsiceros chora as having a range in North East Africa. By the way, you might want to acquire one or both of these books if you are interested in African species, they are both very good. It might be a little premature to call BS, but of course if you have made a sizeable bet on the subject don't reveal these sources.

As to the white-tailed deer analogy ........... there are 30 sub-species of white-tailed deer ranging from South America to Canada. With most of the sub-species occurring right here in the US.

There are also many other species of "deer" as well. Mule deer, Moose, etc.......

Some folks are "lumpers" (make everything similar into only 1 specie) and some are "splitters" (use any differences make new sub-specie). There are always arguments even among biologists about what criteria are required to differentiate a "sub" species.

Wink and your friend are right!

1st off, Lesser Kudu is a seperate species just as Wink said: Tragelaphus imberbis (1st name geunus, 2nd name species, 3rd name subspecies).

2nd, there are at least 4 and maybe 5 subspecies of Greater Kudu. 1) Southern Greater Kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros strepciseros. 2) East African Greater Kudu T. strepsiceros bea. 3) Abyssinian Greater Kudu T. strepsiceros chora. 4) Western Greater Kudu T. strepsiceros burlacei. And then some list the Eastern Cape Greater Kudu as a seperate subspecies however taxonomically it has the same subspecies name as the Southern Greater Kudu, Tragelaphus strepsiceros strepciseros.

Lane

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
Wink and your friend are right!

1st off, Lesser Kudu is a seperate species just as Wink said: Tragelaphus scriptus (1st name geunus, 2nd name species, 3rd name subspecies).
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Lane

Lane, just so we are all clear: Tragelaphus scriptus is a bushbuck and Tragelaphus imberbis is a Lesser Kudu. I don't think there is any controversy among the taxonomists on that.

Wink,

You are absolutely right! I was just typing and drinking my coffee and did not go back and read what I wrote. I will change it in my above post.

Thanks for catching my typo!!!

I did find that Rowland Ward recognizes 4. Greater Southern
Greater Eastern
Greater Northern
Lesser
Wink, I cannot find anything on the internet about Dorst and Dandelot. Can you help me out? Thanks ....wapiti7

Wapati7

SCI recognizes 4 greater kudu. Western, Abyssinian, East African, Southern and Eastern Cape. As others have said lesser kudu is not really a kudu.

Mark

I think they split them up because they do not grow that big in places and they can always say that is a nice kudu for a eastern cape... etc...
Aaron

I would tend to agree with Aaron. Kind of like the idea of and Angolan Gemsbok, as I understand they are genetically the same just don't get as large as other geographical reigons.

Red Stag and Rocky Mountain Elk are genetically the same but they are different subspecies. And folks don't consider them the same either.

quote:

Wink, I cannot find anything on the internet about Dorst and Dandelot. Can you help me out?

A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Africa by Jean Dorst and Pierre Dandelot. My copy is published by Collins, Grafton Street, London. The first edition is 1970, I have the 1990 reprint. The ISBN is 0 00 219294 2. However, I don't know who published it in the USA and I haven't seen a recent edition. Dorst is responsible for the text, Dandelot the colour plates. I believe the authors are French, but that is just an assumption. It was published in both French, German and English language versions. I think the Jonathan Kingdon books, The Kingdon Pocket Guide to African Mammals and the The Field Guide to African Mammals (more extensive than the pocket guide, but not as handy when travelling) are the best available if the Dorst & Dandelot is out of print. I bought my Kingdon Pocket Guide in South Africa but I know it is published and sold in the USA, try Safari Press. Hope this helps. If someone comes across a copy of the Dorst & Dandelot in French I am a buyer. A second edition was published by Delachaux & Niestlé in French in 2002 but they sold out quickly.

I came back to edit. It seems there are used copies of the Dorst book, some selling for outrageous prices. Go to the link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0002192942/ref=s...id=1181426684&sr=8-3

My Dorst & Dandelot was published in 1993,says printed and bound in Hong Kong. It was purchased 3 years ago in the book store in the Johannesburg Airport for whatever that's worth.