Philip Nicholls

Management programs for duikers may have diverse objectives ranging from captive breeding and re-introduction of captive-bred progeny, the production of animals for meat, or the use of particular duiker species as environmental indicators.1-3 Whatever the purpose of such schemes, to achieve success there needs to be co-operation between many different specialists. In recent years there has been an awakening to the importance of integrating veterinary medicine into wildlife conservation and utilisation programmes.3-6 The benefits of such involvement have been demonstrated both in projects working with a single species, such as the Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx)4 and the houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata),7 and those that provide wider support monitoring the health of free-living wildlife populations and their environments.3 This chapter outlines the important role of veterinary science in duiker management programmes, and includes a review of the veterinary literature on duikers.