Black duiker

{{Short description|Species of mammal}}

{{speciesbox

| name = Black duiker

| image = Cephalophus niger.jpg

| image_caption = Cephalophus niger

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group |date=2016 |title=Cephalophus niger |volume=2016 |page=e.T4145A50183437 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T4145A50183437.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}

| taxon = Cephalophus niger

| authority = Gray, 1846

| range_map = Cephalophus Niger Distribution Map.svg

| range_map_caption = Distribution of Black duiker

}}

The black duiker (Cephalophus niger), also known as tuba in Dyula, is a forest-dwelling duiker found in the southern parts of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria.

Black duikers stand around {{convert|500|mm|in|abbr=on}} tall at the shoulder and weigh {{convert|15|to|20|kg|lb|abbr=on}}. They have, not surprisingly, black coats. The head is a rust colour with a large red crest between the ears. Black duikers have long, thin horns of {{convert|80|to|170|mm|in|abbr=on}}, but the horns of females reach only {{convert|30|mm|in|abbr=on}}.

Black duikers live mainly in lowland rainforest, where they eat fruit, flowers, and leaves which have fallen from the canopy. They are probably diurnal, though this is surmised only from captive specimens. Black duiker are reported to be solitary, territorial animals.

The mating season of the black duikers is year round, but more offspring are born from November to January. The gestation period lasts 126 days, and is thus comparably short, usually only one young is born. Its average weight is 1.94 kg; it is weaned around 90 days of age. The birth interval is seven and a half months. In captivity, the black duiker lives up to 14 years.Th. Haltenorth; H. Diller: Säugetiere Afrikas und Madagaskars. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft, {{ISBN|978 3405 11392 6}}

Jonathan Kingdon: The Kingdon Pocket Guide to Afrikan Mammals. A&C Black Publishers Ltd., London, 2004, {{ISBN|978 0 7136 6981 7}}

An estimated 100,000 black duikers are left in the world; they are threatened by hunting and are considered to be in decline across their range.