Common Name: Six-Eyed Miniature Kudu
Scientific Name: Tragelaphus minutus sexoculi
Full Animal: Up to 120cm to the shoulder
Skull Length (NB: mandible missing): 261mm
Specimen Sex: Male
First Described: AD 2187
Description and Habitat: Tragelaphus minutus sexoculi is a small antelope which inhabits the lakes, marsh and wetlands that now dominate all areas of the Africas, feeding on previously dissolved plant and animal nutrients found at the water’s edge. Its ancestor, the Greater Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) was much larger and had only one set of eyes, but as all large terrestrial predators have long since become extinct, its main threat is from crocodiles, snakes and other water dwelling reptiles, which is why it has evolved to have three sets of eyes at the front of its face, highly tuned to perceive the slightest change in light refraction on the water’s surface. As it no longer has teeth, T. minutus sexoculi uses its thin long tongue to suck up nutrients by curling it into a tube-like shape, using pinprick-sized taste and toxin receptors up and down its underside to find suitable sustenance.
Reproduction: Kudu show strong sexual dimorphism in that bulls bear spiral horns which reach record lengths of up to 30 cm (females have none). Horns grow to their full length at the age of five years. Six-eyed miniature kudus reach sexual maturity between one and two years of age. Mating occurs at the beginning of rainy season, with a gestation period of usually 120 days (or eight months), allowing birthing to occur at the lowest levels of water in the hope there is dry land long enough for the calf to ween before the onset of rain again two months later.
Life Span: Estimated to be 22 years.
