Bongos are large African forest antelope species that are characterized by a striking reddish coat, black and white markings, prominent colours and long slightly spiral horns.

Physical Characteristics

The bongo has the most beautiful and dazzling coat of all antelopes. It's rich and brilliant body sports a bright auburn colour, but the neck, chest and legs are generally darker than the rest of the body. Coats of male bongos become darker and buffy as they age until it results in a dark mahogany brown color and coats of female bongos are usually more brightly coloured than males'. A bongo's smooth coat is accented with an average of ten to fifteen vertical and white-yellow torso stripes that runs the length of the base of the neck to the rump. The narrow stripes travel down the sides of the bongo, but the number of stripes on each side is rarely the same.

The bongo has a short, bristly and vertical brown ridge of hair with slender white stripes that extends along the shoulder to the rump. The lips of a bongo are white, topped with a black muzzle.

Bongos have two heavy and slightly spiral horns that slope over the its back and like in many other antelope species, both males and females bongos have horns, but they are the only Tragelaphid in which both sexes have horns. The horns of bongos are in the form of a lyre and bear a resemblance to those of the related antelope species of nyalas, sitatungas, bushbucks, kudus and elands. Unlike deer, which have branched antlers that they shed annually, bongos and other antelopes have pointed horns that they keep throughout life. Males have massive backswept horns while females have smaller, thinner and more parallel horns. The size of the horns range between 75-99 centimetres (30-39 inches). The horns twist once, are hollow and are made of keratin.

Diet

Bongos eat an herbivorous diet including bamboo and shrubs. Leopards, spotted hyenas, lions, and humans prey on them; pythons sometimes eat bongo calves.

Bongos are mainly nocturnal and easily startled. Bongo populations have been greatly reduced by hunting and snares, although some bongo refuges exist.

In 2002 the IUCN, listed the species as "low risk/near threatened". This may mean that Bongos may be endangered due to human environmental interaction as well as hunting and illegal actions towards wildlife.

Gallery

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Image:BongoP2.jpg|Bongo at Louisville Zoo. Image:Bongo_NashvilleZoo.jpg|Bongo at the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere.

References

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External links

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• Bongos: Wildlife summary from the African Wildlife Foundation
• Bongo Behavior^*

Animal diversity - ^*

Bovines | Fauna of West Africa | Fauna of East Africa | Fauna of Sudan | Fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo | Fauna of the Congo | Fauna of Angola

Bongo (Antilope) | Bongo (animal) | Tragelaphus eurycerus | Bonga | Bongo (antilope)