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BONGO


BREADCRUMB

 1. Wildlife Conservation
 2. Bongo


 * Overview
 * Challenges
 * Solutions
 * Behaviors & Diet
 * Habitats


WHAT IS A BONGO?

There are two currently recognized subspecies — the mountain or eastern bongo
and the lowland or western bongo. This antelope is the largest, heaviest, and
most colorful African forest antelope. It has an auburn or chestnut coat with 10
to 15 vertical whitish-yellow stripes running down its sides.

Females are usually more brightly colored than males. Both males and females
have spiraled lyre-shaped horns. The large ears are believed to sharpen hearing,
and the distinctive coloration may help bongos identify one another in their
dark forest habitats. They have no special secretion glands and so rely less on
scent to find one another than do other similar antelopes.

Scientific name

Tragelaphus eurycerus

Weight

225 kilograms to 410 kilograms (500 to 900 pounds)

Size

1.2 meters at the shoulder (50 inches)

Life span

Up to 21 years in captivity. No data for in the wild.

Habitat

Rainforests, dense forests, and forest-savannas

Diet

Herbivorous

Gestation

About 9 months

Predators

Humans, hyenas, leopards, lions

Horns can grow up to
1
Meter long (3 feet)
Population has declined
20%
over three generations
There are
2
subspecies of bongo



CHALLENGES


NATURAL PREDATORS TAKE THEIR TOLL ON BONGO POPULATIONS.

Young bongos are vulnerable to pythons, leopards, and hyenas. Lions have also
been reported to kill bongos.


TODAY, THE BONGO’S BIGGEST THREAT IS HUMANS.

Even though there are taboos against eating bongo meat by locals, the lowland
bongo are still subject to snare hunting due to expanding commercial forestry
exploitation. They are the primary target of tourist safari hunting in central
Africa, and the demand has been increasing during the past decade. Large-scale
and continuous hunting has completely eliminated this species in some areas.


SOLUTIONS

Our solutions to protecting the bongo:

Protected Area
Set aside space for wildlife.

African Wildlife Foundation works with governments and villages to designate
wildlife corridors — large swaths of land that bongos can use to roam freely and
safely from one park, or country, to another. Corridors link protected areas and
allow wildlife to follow rains or travel to their calving grounds without
disturbing human settlements.

Agriculture
Provide agricultural training.

AWF engages communities living near wildlife to create sustainable practices for
agricultural and settlement growth by providing training on best practices and
incentivizing conservation agriculture in exchange for community members
allowing local wildlife to live peacefully near their communities without
encroaching on their territories. 




BEHAVIORS


THE BONGO SCARES EASILY.

The largest forest antelope are quite timid and are easily frightened. They will
run away after a scare — at considerable speed — and seek cover, where they
stand still and alert with their backs to the disturbance. Their hindquarters
are less conspicuous than the forequarters, and from this position, the animal
can quickly flee.


BONGO ARE MOSTLY SOLITARY.

Adult males of a similar size or age seem to try to avoid one another. Even
though they are relatively non-territorial, they will meet and spar with their
horns in a ritualized manner. Sometimes, serious fights will take place but they
are usually discouraged by visual displays, in which the males bulge their
necks, roll their eyes, and hold their horns in a vertical position while slowly
pacing back and forth in front of the other male. Younger mature males most
often remain solitary, although they sometimes join up with an older male. They
seek out females only at mating time. When they are with a herd of females,
males do not coerce them or try to restrict their movements, as do other
antelopes.


FEMALE BONGOS BEAR CALVES IN SPECIFIC AREAS.

Females use traditional calving grounds restricted to certain areas. The newborn
calf lies out in hiding for a week or more, receiving short visits by the mother
to suckle it. Calves grow rapidly and are quickly able to accompany their
mothers in the nursery herds.


DIET


BONGO HAVE A CRAVING FOR SALT.

Like other antelopes, they are herbivorous browsers that feed on leaves, bushes,
vines, bark, grasses, roots, cereals, shrubs, flowers, and fruits. They also
require salt in their diet and will visit natural salt/mineral licks during the
night.


HABITATS


WHERE DO BONGOS LIVE?

They are only found in rainforests with dense undergrowth across tropical
Africa. Specifically, they are found in the lowland rainforests of West Africa
and the Congo Basin to the Central African Republic and southern Sudan. They
thrive at the forest edge and in new growth areas that occur after disturbances.


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African Wildlife Foundation is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, a registered
501(c)3 organization in the United States and a registered charity in the United
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