Cephalophus fosteri St. Leger 1934

267.

Mount Elgon Duiker

Cephalophus fosteri

French: Céphalophe de Foster / German: Elgon-Schwarzstirnducker / Spanish: Duiker del Monte Elgon

Taxonomy. Cephalophus foster: St. Leger, 1934,

Mt Elgon, 9300 ft.

Until recently considered to be an isolated subspecies of C. nigrifrons. Monotypic.

Distribution. Mt Elgon in E Uganda and W Kenya.

Descriptive notes. Head-body ¢.85-95 cm, tail c.11-15 cm; weight ¢.13-16 kg. No specific measurements have been reported; those given above are for the former C. nigrifrons cluster in East Africa.

Mount Elgon Duiker is somewhat smaller than the Black-fronted Duiker (C. nigrifrons). The pelage is thick and coarse. The body is brownish, and the individual hairs have pinkish-white bases. There is no dorsal stripe. The face and sides of the neck are reddish; these regions are much brighter in color than in the Black-fronted Duiker. The chin and underside of the jaw are white. A dark facial blaze runs from the nose to the very short coronal tuft, which is entirely black. Thetail is very bushy; the hooves are relatively long. Dental formulais10/3,C0/1,P 3/3, M 3/3 (x2) = 32.

Habitat. Bamboo forests and moorlands at 2400-3500 m; the species is most common around 3000 m.

Food and Feeding. There is no specific information available for this species, but presumably frugivorous/folivorous based on similar species.

Breeding. There is no information available for this species.

Activity patterns. There is no specific information available for this species, but likely diurnal.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. There is no information available for this species.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List (under C. nigrifrons). There are no recent estimates of population size. This species is protected within Mount Elgon National Park in Kenya, but is under heavy hunting pressure in the Ugandan portion of its range.

Bibliography. East (1999), Grubb & Groves (2001), Hillman et al. (1988), IUCN/SSC Antelope Specialist Group (2008h), Kingdon (1982, 1988), Wilson (2001).