Cephalophus niger (black duiker) | INFORMATION

Scientific Classification

Rank	Scientific Name
Kingdom	Animalia animals
Phylum	Chordata chordates
Subphylum	Vertebrata vertebrates
Class	Mammalia mammals
Order	Artiodactyla even-toed ungulates
Family	Bovidae antelopes, cattle, gazelles, goats, sheep, and relatives
Genus	Cephalophus duikers
Species	Cephalophus niger black duiker

By Krista Milich

Geographic Range

The Black Duiker ranges from Guinea to Southwestern Nigeria. This area includes the following countries: Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

Biogeographic Regions
ethiopian
- native

Habitat

C. niger is a terrestrial animal that is found in several different areas of the forest. It lives in areas of the rainforest and in in other forests. It can be found on the edges of these forests, in bushes and thickets. It can also be found in shrublands and degraded forests. (Walther, 1990).

Habitat Regions
tropical

Terrestrial Biomes
forest
rainforest
scrub forest

Physical Description

Black Duikers are heavily built: short, stocky legs; long body; long head. They are dark brown to black in color. The bridge of their nose and other parts of their head are more reddish in color. They have bare nasal speculums and pointed hooves. Both sexes have horns. The male's are between 7.5 and 17.5 cm. The female's horns are between 2.5 and 3 cm. The body is between 80 and 90 cm long. The tail is between 12 and 14 cm long. The underside of the tail is white. The shoulder height is 45 to 50 cm. And they weigh between 15 and 20 kg.

Other Physical Features
endothermic
bilateral symmetry

Reproduction

There does not seem to be a restricted breeding season in C. niger . Females reach sexual maturity between ages 9 and 12 months. Males reach sexual maturity between ages 12 and 18 months. Gestation lasts about 7 months. Only 1 offspring is born per birth; and the offspring weighs about 1 kg. Weaning lasts no longer than 5 months.

Key Reproductive Features
year-round breeding
gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
sexual
fertilization
- internal

Range number of offspring: 1 (low)
Average number of offspring: 1
Range gestation period: 4.2 to 7 months
Range weaning age: 5 (high) months
Average weaning age: 5 months
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 9 to 18 months
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 9 to 18 months

Parental Investment
altricial

Lifespan/Longevity

The lifespan of C. niger is between 10 and 12 years.

Behavior

Cephalophus niger lives alone or in pairs. It is a sedentary and territorial animal. Some believe that it is diurnal (Kingdon, 1997), while others believe that it is nocturnal and crepuscular (Walther, 1990). Its territory is generally about 0.1 hectares.

Communication and Perception

Perception Channels
tactile
chemical

Food Habits

Black Duikers eat a wide variety of foods. Fruits and foliage are the most common, however, their diet also includes everything from insects to eggs. It is possible that they occasionally eat birds, also.

Foods eaten include: flowers, leaves, buds, young shoots, grasses, herbs, berries, fruits, termites, ants, snails and eggs.

Primary Diet
herbivore
- folivore
- frugivore

Animal Foods
birds
eggs
insects
mollusks

Plant Foods
leaves
fruit

Predation

Known Predators: leopards ( Panthera pardus ); eagles ( Accipitridae ); African golden cats ( Profelis aurata ); Lybian wild cats ( Felis silvestris ); servals ( Leptailurus serval ); civets ( Viverridae ); large owls ( Strigiformes ); crocodiles ( Crocodylus ); monitor lizards ( Varanus ); pythons ( Boidae )

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Humans use the Black Duiker for its meat and its skin.

Positive Impacts
food
body parts are source of valuable material

Conservation Status

C. niger is one of the most common duikers in Africa. Still, it suffers from overhunting. It is considered to be rare and endangered in Sierra Leone, Togo, and Nigeria (Kingdon, 1997). However, the IUCN has it ranked as a lower risk species, that is, near threatened. Many are killed each year for meat and skins. Stricter rules on the bushmeat trade would help the status of this mammal.

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Krista Milich (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Bret Weinstein (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Ethiopian

living in sub-Saharan Africa (south of 30 degrees north) and Madagascar.

World Map

native range: the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

tropical: the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.

forest: forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

rainforest: rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.

scrub forest: scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons.

endothermic: animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

bilateral symmetry: having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

year-round breeding: breeding takes place throughout the year

sexual: reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

fertilization: union of egg and spermatozoan

internal fertilization: fertilization takes place within the female's body

altricial: young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.

nocturnal: active during the night

motile: having the capacity to move from one place to another.

solitary: lives alone

territorial: defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement

food: A substance that provides both nutrients and energy to a living thing.

herbivore: An animal that eats mainly plants or parts of plants.

folivore: an animal that mainly eats leaves.

frugivore: an animal that mainly eats fruit

tactile: uses touch to communicate

chemical: uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

References

Kingdon, J. 1997. The Kingdon Field guide to African Mammals . San Diego: Harcourt Brace and Company.

Kranz, K., K. Ronald. 1987. The 17 Species of Duikers. Pp. 558 in The Encyclopedia of Mammals . New York: Facts on File Publications.

Nowak, R., J. Paradiso. 1983. Walker's Mammals of the World 4th ed. V. 2 . Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Walther, F. 1990. Duikers and Dwarf Antelopes. Pp. 336-337 in Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals V. 5 . New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Co..

Wilson, V., B. Wilson. 1990. Notes on the Duikers of Sierra Leone. Arnoldia Zimbabwe , 9: 451-462.