The greater kudu is a woodland antelope found throughout eastern and southern Africa. Despite occupying such widespread territory, they are sparsely populated in most areas, due to a declining habitat, deforestation and poaching. People are taking over kudu’s habitats for charcoal burning and farming.
Preferred habitat includes mixed scrub woodland (it is one of the few large mammals that thrives in settled areas - in the scrub woodland and bush that reclaims abandoned fields and degraded pastures-), acacia, and mopane bush on lowlands, hills, and mountains. Recorded to 2,400 m in Ethiopia. Kudu are browsers; they can exist for long periods without drinking, obtaining sufficient moisture from their food, but become water dependent at times when the vegetation is very dry.
The Greater Kudu is hunted for food and sport. Kudu numbers are affected by humans hunting them for their meat, hides, and horns. Kudu horns have long been prized in Africa for use as musical instruments, honey containers, and symbolic ritual objects. The percentage of animals in offtake from ranching versus wild is not known.