NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



As the result of this struggle, the Blue Duiker 

 has evolved senses and mental faculties which 

 otherwise would never have developed. Moreover, 

 finding their prey becoming increasingly hard to 

 secure, the enemies of the Blue Duiker are obliged 

 to exert their various faculties and senses to the 

 uttermost or die of starvation. I am inclined to 

 believe there exists some sort of compact between 

 the Bushbuck {Tragelaphus serif tus) and the little 

 Blue Duiker. I have often noticed the latter antelope 

 emerge from the fringe of a thicket during the early 

 morning or at sundown, and after a few minutes 

 a Bushbuck ram would appear and begin browsing 

 without the usual preliminary interval of listening 

 and scrutiny of the neighbourhood. It would seem 

 the Blue Duiker, in these instances, deliberately 

 precedes the Bushbuck, and that the latter follows, 

 confident in the superior senses of his little friend, 

 which he probably protects against the attacks of 

 many of its foes such as the Caracal, Serval, Honey 

 Ratel and Jackal. 



The Blue Duiker lives and thrives in captivity, 

 and will breed freely enough if kept in a large 

 enclosure in which there is a patch or two of scrub. 

 It is, however, not so easily tamed as the Cape Duiker, 

 owing to its excessively timid nature. 



Their cry of alarm is a sharp, whistling snort. 



The general colour of this pygmy antelope is 

 dark greyish-brown with a tinge of blue, which varies 

 in intensity in different individuals according to 



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