The yellow-backed duiker (Cephalophus silvicultor) is a shy, forest-dwelling antelope of the order Artiodactyla, from the family Bovidae.

The species was first described by English botanist Adam Afzelius in the journal Nova Acta Regiæ Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis in 1815.

[5] The specific name silvicultor is composed by two Latin words: silva, meaning wood, and cultus, which relates to cultivation.

[6] Four subspecies are recognised:[7] Yellow-backed duikers have a convex body shape, standing taller at the rump than the shoulders.

At the Los Angeles Zoo, duikers were found to run headlong into the glass of their enclosures if startled.

[10] Their diet makes them very hard to keep in captivity as most domesticated fruits are not well suited to their low fiber requirements.

They are considered concentrate selectors, meaning they eat "diets relatively low in fiber, have a well developed ability to forage selectively, a rumen bypass, a rapid passage and high fermentation rate for starch, and they frequently encounter toxins.

[9] The yellow-backed duiker belongs to a group of morphologically, ecologically, and behaviorally convergent mammals which also includes some artiodactyls, rodents, and lagomorphs which exhibit "microcursorial adaptive syndrome.

"[3] This means they have tropical to subtropical distribution along with small body size, swift, cursorial locomotion, browse on high energy food, have precocial young, and a "facultatively monogamous social structure.

[10] The animal's flighty, easy-to-scare nature causes the yellow-backed duiker to freeze up in torchlight which makes them very easy to hunt at night.

[12] The loss of this species may have many impacts due to the yellow-backed duiker's numerous ecological responsibilities.

They not only make up a main source of food for many indigenous peoples, but they also act as seed dispersing agents for various plants, and prey items for many carnivores.