Name: Black Duiker (pronounced DIKE-er)
Scientific Name: Cephalophus niger
African Names: Tuba (Dioula)
Height: 19 inches tall and 31 inches longAverage Adult Weight: 44 pounds
Life Span: 11 years
Description: The black duiker is a small antelope with a soft glossy black or brownish-black coat. Their tail is short with the black on top and white on the underside.
Their head is black in color, with an orange forehead. From the black of the body, the coat is light grey around the throat and chin, forming a bib.
The straight, pointed horns are generally about 3 inches long and are often hidden in a tuft of hair on top of the head.
Black Duikers are fast and have sharp hooves.
They have a sharp sense of smell.
There is some dispute as to whether the Black Duiker is noctural or diurnal.
Habitat: Black duiker live mainly in lowland rainforests, shrublands and other forests.
Countries found in: Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria.
Babies: One offspring per birth weighing about 2 pounds. Gestation is about 126 days.
Food: Black Duiker are browsers that eat fruit, flowers and leaves that have fallen from trees and may also eat small birds, rodents, insects and carrion.
Habits: They live singly or in pairs.
Black duiker fight with blunt strokes of the forehead to injure with their horns.
Black duiker pairs spend a lot of time grooming each other's heads.
Conservation Status: Near Threatened. The Black Duiker is rare and endangered in Sierra Leone, Togo, and Nigeria.
Predators: Humans (Black Duiker are hunted for the bushmeat trade and their skin.), crowned eagles and leopards.
Interesting Facts:Duiker is derived from the Afrikaans word "duikerbok" meaning diver.
They are sometimes called "Diving Bucks".
