Where does the bongo live?
The bongo is a large, mostly nocturnal, forest-dwelling antelope of sub-Saharan Africa. It lives in tropical jungles up to 4,000 m elevation, in Kenya, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the DR Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and South Sudan. Like other forest ungulates, it is seldom seen in large groups.
What does the bongo eat?
It eats leaves, bushes, vines, bark and pith of rotting trees, grasses and herbs, roots, cereals and fruits, and also salt from licks and burnt wood. Males tend to be solitary, and females with young live in groups of six to eight. It has a striking reddish-brown coat, with black-and-white markings, white-yellow stripes and long, slightly spiralled horns.
Is the bongo endangered?
Yes: the IUCN lists it as Near Threatened, but the eastern or mountain bongo is Critically Endangered. There may be only 100 left in the wild, due to logging and poaching. Leopards and spotted hyenas are its primary predators, and humans hunt it for hides, horns and meat.
