What's a Duiker?

Shy creatures that prefer to stay in the brush, duiker are small antelope from Sub-Saharan Africa. This little fellow was born at the LA Zoo on January 9th. While duiker feed primarily on leaves, buds, seeds, fruit and bark, they also will eat protein given the opportunity, and have been observed stalking and eating small rodents.

 

Photo credit Tad Motoyama / LA Zoo

"Duiker" means "dive" in Afrikaans, so named because of their tendency to dive into cover when startled.