What is the maximal age a Blue duiker reaches?
An adult Blue duiker (Philantomba monticola) usually gets as old as 12 years.
Blue duikers are around 205 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 709 grams (1.56 lbs) and measure 2.9 cm (0′ 2″). They are a member of the Bovidae family (genus: Philantomba). Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 69.2 cm (2′ 4″).
As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.
The blue duiker (Philantomba monticola) is a small antelope found in western, southern and eastern Africa. It is the smallest duiker. The species was first described by Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg in 1789. 12 subspecies are identified. The blue duiker reaches 32–41 centimetres (13–16 in) at the shoulder and weighs 3.5–9 kilograms (7.7–19.8 lb). Sexually dimorphic, the females are slightly larger than the males. The dark tail measures slightly above 10 centimetres (3.9 in). It has short, spiky horns, around 5 centimetres (2.0 in) long and hidden in hair tufts. The subspecies show a great degree of variation in their colouration. The blue duiker bears a significant resemblance to Maxwell’s duiker.Activity is diurnal (limited to daytime). Secretive and cautious, the blue duiker confines itself to the forest fringes. Territorial, individuals of opposite sexes form pairs and occupy territories, nearly 0.4–0.8 hectares (0.0015–0.0031 sq mi) large and marked by preorbital gland secretions. The blue duiker feeds on fallen fruits, foliage, flowers and pieces of bark, provided mainly by the forest canopies in their habitat. The age when sexual maturity is gained has been given differently by different studies. The species is monogamous, with pairs remaining together throughout the year. The length of the gestational period has been estimated from as little as four months to as long as seven months. Births occur throughout the year, though the birth rate might fall in the dry season. The calf is mainly kept in hiding and weaning occurs at 2.5 to 3 months.The habitat consists of a variety of forests, including old-growth, secondary, and gallery forests. Forests are preferred as these provide the animal with shelter through the dense understory and forage through the canopy. Though categorized as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the blue duiker is under threat from extensive bushmeat hunting across its range.
Animals of the same family as a Blue duiker
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Bovidae):
- Günther’s dik-dik becoming 14 years old
- Lichtenstein’s hartebeest growing to a mass of 168.7 kgs (371.92 lbs)
- Takin becoming 19.5 years old
- Hartebeest becoming 20 years old
- Walia ibex with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Siberian ibex becoming 22.25 years old
- Yellow-backed duiker becoming 17.25 years old
- Springbok becoming 20 years old
- Black-fronted duiker becoming 19.67 years old
- Nile lechwe becoming 18.67 years old
Animals that reach the same age as Blue duiker
With an average age of 12 years, Blue duiker are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Oncilla usually reaching 10 years
- Grant’s gazelle usually reaching 12.67 years
- Long-tailed chinchilla usually reaching 11.25 years
- American red squirrel usually reaching 12 years
- Royal antelope usually reaching 14 years
- Mindanao treeshrew usually reaching 11.5 years
- Red-fronted gazelle usually reaching 13.5 years
- California leaf-nosed bat usually reaching 10.33 years
- Pallas’s long-tongued bat usually reaching 10 years
- Black-footed ferret usually reaching 12 years
Weighting as much as Blue duiker
A fully grown Blue duiker reaches around 4.9 kg (10.79 lbs). So do these animals:
- Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth weighting 5.7 kilos (12.57 lbs) on average
- Raccoon dog weighting 4.22 kilos (9.3 lbs) on average
- Greater spot-nosed monkey weighting 5.26 kilos (11.6 lbs) on average
- Allied rock-wallaby weighting 4.63 kilos (10.21 lbs) on average
- Rothschild’s rock-wallaby weighting 4.55 kilos (10.03 lbs) on average
- Blue duiker weighting 4.86 kilos (10.71 lbs) on average
- Brown’s pademelon weighting 5.48 kilos (12.08 lbs) on average
- Olive colobus weighting 3.98 kilos (8.77 lbs) on average
- Short-beaked echidna weighting 4.5 kilos (9.92 lbs) on average
- Chinese mountain cat weighting 5.49 kilos (12.1 lbs) on average
Animals as big as a Blue duiker
Those animals grow as big as a Blue duiker:
- Hairy-nosed otter with 76.5 cm (2′ 7″)
- Honey badger with 68.4 cm (2′ 3″)
- Chinese mountain cat with 78.6 cm (2′ 7″)
- Alaskan hare with 57.6 cm (1′ 11″)
- Rhesus macaque with 55.5 cm (1′ 10″)
- Red-legged pademelon with 56.6 cm (1′ 11″)
- Tana River red colobus with 56 cm (1′ 11″)
- Stump-tailed macaque with 60 cm (2′ 0″)
- Gelada with 62 cm (2′ 1″)
- Zanzibar red colobus with 57.4 cm (1′ 11″)