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Home , Blue duiker, Cephalophus, Duiker, Zebra duiker

'Pi-- Reprinted from International Zoo Yearbook Vol. 22 1982

Notes on the Yellow-backed sylvicultor in captivity with comments on its natural history

KARL R. KRANZ & SUSAN LUMPKIN %S:U¿/'""'"'"'''"''''''' '^-^^^'^^^oolo.icalPark, Smithsonian InsUtution, Washin^on, DC

The forest Cephalophus spp are a small, little-known group of 15 (Ansell, 1971) fo «. Farst et al. (1980) on species bred at the oí Afncan bovids which is widely distributed Gladys Porter Zoo in BrownsvÜle and Udell throughout sub-Saharan . To study their (1981) on the duiker C. zebra at Los behaviour in the wild is not easy because of Angeles. The following report describes obser- their elusive habits and the difficult terrain in vations on the Yellow-backed duiker C. sylvi- which they live, and there are few captive cultor at the National Zoological Park studies. The information which is available in- Washington, and provides a review of what is cludes Rails' (1973, 1974, 1975) studies of known about the species both in captivity and m the wild. (1980) field study of the C. monU- The forest duikers are considered primitive (Estes, 1974) which are thought to HUSBANDRY 233 have diverged early in bovid evolurion and thus to have retained numerous primitive Gumea Bissau and Gambia south into characteristics. Moreover, the group is rela- and east as far as (Ansell, 1971) It is tively homogeneous. All Cephalophus spp are the largest of the Cephalophinae, standing up small (4-64 kg) and their build, gait and short to 86 cm at the shoulder (Lydekker & Blaine, slanted horns seem well adapted to movement I9I4) and weighing up to 64 kg in the wild through the thick vegetation of their forest (Smithers 1966). A captive-born, five-year-old . All duikers are browsers but individ- à at Washington NZP weighed 80 kg when it ual species may be exclusively frugivorous, or died, however, and Gautier-Hion et al. (1980) frugivorous and herbivorous (Gautier-Hion et estimated their specimens to weigh 68 kg The aL, 1980). Their activity rhythms are variable adult is jet black except for a triangular yellow (Dubost, 1980) with the Yellow-backed duiker rump (or dorsal) patch and an orange crest of being active both during the day and at night hair between the horns. The species is con- while some species are exclusively diurnal (e g' sidered to be most closely related to Abbott's C monticola) or nocturnal (e.g. the Bay or duiker C. spadix which is simUar in appearance Black-backed duiker C. dorsalis); these differ- but slightly smaller, and to Jentink's duiker C ences may be a function of size and diet jenttnki, these three species forming a distinct Dubost (1980) also notes that modes of com- group usually referred to as the large or 'giant' munication may reflect when a species is most duikers of which the Yellow-backed and active. All duikers rely on olfactory and, to a Abbotts duikers may comprise a superspecies lesser extent, acoustic communication, but C (Ansell, 1971). None has been the object of monticola employs many more visual signals any major study, either in the wild or in cap- than does C. syhicultor, which in turn may use tivity. Our observations suggest that the more visual signals than the totally nocturnal Yellow-backed duiker departs litde from the C. dorsalis. The duikers' response to danger is generalised forest duiker form, although a to take cover and hide and in keeping with this knowledge of which features diffbr and how is their coloration tends to be cryptic. Off-spring essential, both to provide effbctive captive are also well concealed since duikers are typi- management and breeding, and to further our cal 'hider' species (Walther, 1979). There is understanding of the of the little , the sexes being simi- HUSBANDRY lar m coloration and size, although $ 9 may be slightly larger than dd, and both having short At Washington NZP two pairs of Yellow- spike-like horns and well-developed maxillary backed duikers, one wild caught and the other scent glands (Rails, 1976). capnve bom, are exhibited in 0-65 and Based on Aeschlimann's (1963) and Rails' U-71ha outdoor enclosures which are sur- (1973) studies of captive Maxwell's duikers it rounded by a combination offences and moats has been suggested that forest duikers are A holding area 4-6x9-8x2-2m high adjac- monogamous, although in the field this has ent to the main enclosure allows us to separate been confirmed for only the Blue duiker where the wild-caught d from his mate when neces- pairs and their immature ofl'spring occupy sary. Each pair also has free access to a small home ranges or territories which both smaller, sunlamp-heated stall c. 3-4x4-7x sexes defend from conspecific intruders. None 2-6 m high. The concrete floors of the stalls are covered in rubber matting to prevent lame- of the species appears to have a reproductive season, and a single calf, which receives litde ness and subsequent splaying of the hind legs, parental care, is apparently the norm (Estes, and hay is provided as bedding. To provide the 1974). Pairing appears to be permanent, and duikers with plenty of hiding places the out- young leave their parents during their second door enclosures are well planted with pampas year. Interactions between neighbouring pairs grass, shrubs, and trees which are protected by or groups are rare. wooden guards to prevent overbrowsing. The The Yellow-backed duiker is found in West provision of good cover is important because Africa, having a range which extends from many duikers are very highly strung and easily frightened by even minor disturbances; our HUSBANDRY

238 until 48 hours after birth. Carnation evapor- produced four dâ and only one Ç. Another ated milk in a 1:1 ratio with water and supple- trend observed in the East London mented with vitamins and iron was offered was that 9 9 were born after longer mean eight hours after separation but, being very interblrth intervals than were ^^, (275 j ¿ay« frightened, the calf would not accept it and compared to 254-6) (Von Ketelhodt, 1977). had to be force-fed 60 ml of the formula; five The data for Yellow-backed duikers present a hours later it still refused the milk. The follow- similar picture with 9 9 being born after a ing day, the first two 60 ml feeds were agam mean interbirth interval of 612-14 days and forced, but at the third feeding the calf began ¿à after 400-75 days. It is unclear, however, to nurse, and the next day it took the nipple whether this difference represents a real at the second feed. When the calf was six days phenomenon in the Yellow-backed duiker old the formula was changed to two parts or merely reflects captive management; tor evaporated mÜk to one part water Between example, in many cases it is unknown whether days 4 and 25 it was off-ered mUk four to five the 9 9 were with ci ci continuously and it not times a day at four to eight hour intervals, and how often they were introduced. intake ranged from 300-1200 ml per day. From day 31 daily feedings were gradually MATERNAL CARE , reduced to one or two per day and continued The two duiker calves we observed received at this rate until it was five months old. Daily little maternal care, although their dams did intake during this period varied from Uck and groom them. They did not follow their 475-950 ml per day. The calf began eating mothers but spent most of their time lying some of the hay in its stall on day 9 and by alone, seeming to prefer protected spots at the day 17 it was eating chopped and vege- bases of vertical objects such as trees or clumps tables together with kale, and was also of grass. Nursing was infrequent, but individ- drinking water. , . .i ual bouts of nursing were sometimes quite From the point of view of making the duiker long One c? calf was seen nursing for seven easier to handle, hand-rearing was to some minutes immediately after birth, and 15 min- extent successful although the never utes at two days of age; a bout lasting 12 min- became tame and was always quite agitated utes was seen for a 9 calf aged five weeks. when crated. It should be noted, however, that Calves are probably weaned at four to six hand-reared ci Roe capreolus, weeks of age but may begin eating solid food while quite tame as juveniles, later became much earlier. One calf was seen nibbling grass very aggressive and several had to be de- when it was eight days old. stroyed; hand-reared 9 9, however, were In captivity Cervus eldi thamin (W^ Xanten, pers. comm.). Since our hand-reared HAND-REARING ci ci were shipped to other zoos before they Our Yellow-backed duiker 9 9 appear to matured, we do not yet know whether this be relatively good mothers, and have been problem exists for duikers. allowed to rear their own young. Recently, however, it was decided to hand-rear any ci^ GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT born at the zoo in the hope that they would Yellow-backed duikers show the rapid early then be more tractable for crate-training and weight gain typical of . Data from subsequent shipping. Females are still left the two hand-reared ci ci and the weights of with their mothers. Two ci ci have now been two other animals, one at birth and another at reared and complete notes are available for 130 days, are shown in Table 4, from which one. it can be seen that the weights of both cid So that the calf would receive at least some nearly doubled between their first and fourth colostrum, it was not taken from its mother HUSBANDRY 239

AGE AT patch hairs more than doubled in length before WEIGHING WEIGHT DUIKER BIRTH DATE reaching adult size (..55 mm) when the calf (days) (kg) was five months old, and crest hairs more than tripled ,n length over the same period. Rump cf (hand- 10 Jan 1980 4 reared) 61 patch hairs also changed colour over time; at 14 8-3 two days the hairs were brownish-black with 33 11-8 cf (hand- 26 Oct 1980 9 yellow tips and at five months were yellow with reared) 5-7 14 6-4 black tips. The crest hairs lightened too, frZ 17 8-5 auburn to orange between birth and five 30 11-5 months. It is worth noting that although the 9 (mother- 23 Mar 1978 130 reared) 36-3 rump patch hair colour and length developed d" (mother- 24 Oct 1973 1968 79-54* only gradually to the adult pattern, the pL- reared) (5 • 4 years) a"imT. "'"" "" P"""^ " ^^"^ y°""S •weight at death LONGEVITY Table 4^ Weights of four Yellow-backed duikers born at Washington NZP Mentís (1972) two longevity records for the Yellow-backed duiker in captívity of 7 years 4 months and 18 days, and 8 years 11 weeks of life. Thus, like some of the smaller months and 26 days. A new record has recently duikers (e.g. C. dorsalis and the Red-flanked been set for the species at Brownsville where duiker C. rufilatus (Dittrich, 1972)), this larger a 9 duiker imported in September 1968 lived species appears to reach about 18% of the until 14 January 1979, making it at least adu t weight (estimated at 64 kg) by the fourth en years and four months old when it died week of life. Because they come from (U. f hompson, pers. comm.). Our two wild- hand-reared animals, these data should be caught animals are now at least seven years old cautiously interpreted however; we have only and still appear healthy. one birth weight available but this is equal to Clearly there is still a great deal to learn the weights of the hand-reared dd at four and about the Yellow-backed duiker. Fortunately nme days of age. The weight at 130 days rep- It now appears to be breeding well in captívity resents about 57% of the adult weight and this and It is hoped that our knowledge of the IS comparable to Dittrich's data on small species will contínue to expand. duikers which show calves reaching 44-50% of

the adult weight by three months of age ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS At birth Yellow-backed duikers are a We thank William Xanten, Sonny Stroman and Barbara uniform brownish-black colour and have no Bmgham for their assistance in the zoo, Judith Block for horns. These first appeared in one captive d at about 30 days and are known to reach a SEM and V '• ^:7Í^'í"'= Mann for her help with th! SEM and Virgmia Garber for typing the manuscript We S ^^^^T '6• 5 ^"^ *n both sexes (Ansell, 1950). Also from about 30 days a thin stripe and^o Ka^h • '^'^.T^'t" "' •* -Published data, oí hair along the spine slowly began to lighten and to Katherine Rails who read and criticised earlie in colour and by 118-140 days the yellow drafts of the manuscript. We also thank Friends of the Nanonal Zoo and the Smithsonian Institution for financial stripe was quite obvious. Gradually, over the next four to five months, the caudal section of the stripe broadened to form the fully de- PRODUCTS MENTIONED IN THF TEXT veloped triangular patch of yellow hair from Carnation evaporated milk: manufactured by the Car- which the animal derives its common name nation Company, Los Angeles, CA 90036 USA Our observations are similar to Ansell's (1973) Green tennis netting: a lightweight closed mesh polypro- Bo Tl Z'ZT"'"f^' '"^""f^""^^') by BiSelco Inc , PO description of rump patch development Box 11282, Elkins Park, PA 19117 USA Analysis of hairs collected from a two-day-old Herbivore Zoo Chow: a pellet;d product manufac- ^ and a five-month-old 9 showed that rump tured by the Ralston Purina Company, Checkerboard Square, St Louis, MO 63110, USA. 1/1 NiZ(- ï'N HUSBANDRY

240 KURT, F. (1963): Zur Carnivorie bei Cephalophus dorsalis. Laboratory Canine Chow: a dry dog food manufac- Z Sausetierk. 28: 309-313. S by the Ralston Purina Company, Checkerboard ÍYDEKÍER, R. . BLAINE, G. (1914): Catalogue of the un^ Sauare St Louis, MO 63110, USA. in the British Museum 1. London. British Sene 100: a sweet feed, manufaetured by the Ralston Museum (Natural History). ?u"na Company, Checkerboard Square, St Louts, MO MENTIS M. T. (1972): A review of some life history f a- 63110, USA. Tures of the large herbivores of Africa. Lammergeyer 16: 1-89 MÜLLER-SCHWARZE, D., VOLKMAN, N. J^ Jf"¿."^J^, SS?' (1963): Observations - P/.-/• (1977): Osmetrichia: specialized scent hair in black tail «,.rf (Hamilton-Smith) une annlope de la foret deer 7. ultrastruct. Res. 59: 223-230. éburnéenne. Ató r•/.. 20: 341-368 ¡ILLS K. (1973); Cephalophus maxwellii. Mammahan ANSELL, W. F. H. (1950): The yellow-backed dmke,- elusive and secretive. Afr. Wild Life 4: 151-153. ÏSÎ(lÎ74): Scent marking in captive Maxwell's ANLLL, W. F, H. (1960): Contributions to the n.amma og, duiker./l/CW/'«Ws (N.S.) No. 24; 114-123. of Northern Rhodesia. Occ. Pap. natn. Sth. Rhod. 24B. RALLS, K. (1975): Agonistic behavior m Maxwell s duiker, Cephalophus maxmellii. Mammalia 39: ^\i-^'^J- ANS¡LL, W. F. H. (1969): Addenda and comgenda to RILLS K (1976); Mammals in which females are larger 'Mammals of Northern Rhodesia' ^.: 1-48. thanmales.ß.fiCT.fto/. 51:245-276. RATHBUN G. B. (1978): Evolution of the rump region in ANSELL,.MÍF, I wW. Ff. HM. (1971);^i7< >;• Order Artiodactyla., In•. The »«••.», mam mais of Africa. An identification manual ^^^-^^Jr^^^¡^ Ae goTden-rumped elephant shrew. BuU. Carnegie Mus. 6: J. & Setzer, H. W. (Eds). Washington, DC : Smithsonian Institution Press. , SALE ]. B. (1970): Unusual external adaptations in the rock ANSELL, W. F. H. (1973): Development of the dorsal mark ing in the yellow-backed duiker. 7: 191-19^. SD•.'W.I'ÍBRAUS, H. H. (1980): Die Aus- ASDELL SA (1964): Patterns of mammalian wXg der Handaufzucht auf das Verhalten von Rehen (2nd edition). Ithaca: Cornell University Press iCapreolus capreolus L.). Prakt. Tierarzt b\: 771-779^ DEKEYSER, PL. (1956): Les mammifères de VAfru,ue Noire CHNEIDER, K. M (1930-1934): D-F f "l--^¿¿ 7' Francais (2nd edition). Dakar; I.F.A.N. Lpz. (N.F.) 3: 183-198; 4: 349-364; 5: 200-226, 7. D^RICH, L. (1968): Keeping and breeding at 182•201 Hanover Zoo./«Í. 2»o yj-8: 139-143. SMITHERS, R. H. N, (1966): T^ mammals of Rhodesia, Zam- •CH, L. (1972); Beobachtungen bei der Haltung von Ha and Malam. London: Collins. . . ., ^ •' Cephalophus-hn^n sowie zur Fortpflanzung und Jugend- SMYTHE, N. (1970); On the existence of'pursuit invitation enfwicUung von C. dorsalis und C. rufilatus m gefangen- signals in mammals. Am. Nat. 104: 491-494. schaft. Zool. Gart., Lpz. (N.F.) 42: 1-16. UMLL, c. C. (1981); Breeding the Cephalophus DUBOST G. (1980): L'écologie et la vie sociale du Cepha zebra at the Los Angeles Zoo. Int. Zoo Yh. 21: 155-I58_ lophe bleu iCepkalofhus m»*»/. Thunberg) petit rumi- VON KETELHODT, H. F. (1977): The lambmg mterval of the nant forestier africain. Z. Tierpsychol. 54: 205-266 blue duiker Cephalophus monticola Gray '"/IP^^^/l'* ESTES, R, D. (1972): The role of the vomeronasal organ m observations on its breeding and care. S. Afr. J. Wúdl. Res. mammalian reproduction. MammaUa 36: ^l^-i+l- ESTES, R. D. (1974): Social organization of the African WA•. F (1958): Zum Kampf-und Paarungsverhalten bovidae. lUCN Pubis (N.S.) No. 24: 1^6-205 einiger Antilopen. Z. Tierpsychol 15: 340-380. FARST D D THOMPSON, D. P., STONES. G. A,, BURCHFIELD, WALTHER, F. (1979): Das Verhalten der Horntrager (Bovi- PT. HUGHES, M. L. (1980): Maintenance and breedmg dae). Handb. Zool, Berl 10: 1-184. of duikers Cephalophus spp at Gladys Porter ^oo, Brownsville. Int. Zoo Yh. 20: 93-99. GAUTIER-HION, A., EMMONS, L. H. & DUBOST, G. (1980) A comparison of the diets of three major groups of pr.m.n' consumers of (, squirrels and ). Manuscript submitted 12 August 1981 Oecologia, Berl. 45: 182-189.

P•nled,•G.a.BrH.,nb,Hen.vUnsLld.,a..heDorselPress,Dorchester,Dorset