Maxwell's duiker

Maxwell's duiker ( Philantomba maxwellii )

The Maxwell's duiker ( Philantomba maxwellii ) is a small antelope found in West Africa. The species once formed together with the blue duiker ( Philantomba monticola ) is a subgenus within the genus Cephalophus. More recent taxonomies list Philantomba as an independent genus, was described in 2010 with Walter Ducker a third type.

Features

The Maxwell's duiker reaches a total length of 63 to 100 cm, including an approximately 13 cm long head and 8 to 10 cm long tail. The shoulder height is 35 to 38 cm and weight of 8-10 kg. The 3.5 to 6.0 cm long horns occur in all males and many females. The animals seem inclined forward with a slightly higher rear body. Females are slightly larger than males and have four teats.

The fur color varies greatly among copies and is on the upper body usually gray-brown to blue-gray. At the head with the horns, there are lighter stripes. The underside is whitish and the dark, slightly bushy tail has bright edges. From the blue duiker, the species differs by the structure of the glands on the hooves and by the different distribution area.

Distribution and habitat

The distribution area stretches over a wide hem on the West African coast from the Cross River in Niger to The Gambia and Senegal. As habitat are rain forests, secondary forests, moist savanna bush and plantations.

Way of life

The Maxwell's duiker away never more than 20 to 30 meters of bushes or groups of trees where he can hide. It eats mainly leaves, fruits, young shoots, bark and seeds and other plant parts. Sometimes he follows vociferous groups of monkeys, mostly the fruits fall to the ground. Is the supply of fresh leaves good, the Maxwell duiker only drinks occasionally, lactating females are more frequent drinking. Among the enemies of this antelope include the Crowned Eagle ( Stephanoaetus coronatus ), pythons ( Pythonidae ), smaller wild cats ( Felis ), and leopard (Panthera pardus ).

Females usually have only one litter per year, in which after an approximately 120-day gestation in the dry season (January to March or August / September), a single young is born. The boy weighs at birth 710-955 grams and has, unusually for Ducker, the same skin color as adult animals. Maxwell's duikers in captivity were old to 10 years.

Status

The greatest threats to this antelope consist in the destruction of habitat and hunting for bushmeat. In limited areas, such as the National Park Comoé the population declined in the last 20 years by 90 percent. The total population is estimated by the IUCN as endangered not (Least Concern ).