Bongo
Tragelaphus eurycerus
🐃
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Pecora
Bovidae
Tragelaphus eurycerus
The Forest Phantom — Tragelaphus eurycerus, the bongo, is a creature of shadow and stripe, moving like a whisper through Africa’s darkest rainforests — the largest and most secretive of all forest antelopes.
Description
The bongo is a forest-adapted antelope of remarkable beauty, instantly recognizable by its deep chestnut coat marked with 10–15 narrow white stripes running vertically along the body. Both sexes bear elegant spiral horns sweeping back over the shoulders — a design that allows them to slip through dense undergrowth without snagging.
They inhabit lowland and montane forests of Central and East Africa, from the Congo Basin to Kenya’s Aberdare and Mau ranges. Bongos are primarily nocturnal browsers, feeding on young leaves, shoots, fruits, and bark, often visiting natural salt licks at night. Their wide hooves and quiet, deliberate gait make them almost ghostlike in movement — seldom seen, even where they are locally abundant.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
405
1.4
2.1
2.5
kg
m
m
m
Mixed Feeder
Herbivores – Grazers
Hunt History
Historically, T. eurycerus was hunted by both local peoples and European explorers for its striking horns and hide. In Central Africa, pygmy hunters trapped them in forest pits and nets, while colonial-era collectors prized them as trophies. The mountain bongo (T. e. isaaci) suffered severe declines in the 20th century due to poaching, deforestation, and the spread of livestock-borne diseases.
Archaeological and historical notes:
Ituri Forest, DRC – Indigenous pit traps containing bongo remains, dated to ~3,000 years BP, indicate long-term subsistence hunting.
Aberdare Range, Kenya – Mountain bongo remains found in early 20th-century colonial camps, marking the species’ late discovery by science (1901).
Central African forest sites (Cameroon–Gabon) – Late Holocene faunal layers show Tragelaphus-type forest antelopes, including probable bongos, exploited by Neolithic forest-dwellers (~2,000–1,500 years BP).
Time & Range
Extinction Status
Extant
Extinction Date
Temporal Range
Region
0
BP
Late Pleistocene
Africa
Wiki Link
Fat Analysis
Fatness Profile:
Medium
Fat %
6
Est. Renderable Fat
19.8
kg
Targeted Organs
Hump/backfat, marrow, mesenteric fat
Adipose Depots
Hump/backfat, mesenteric, perirenal; marrow
Preferred Cuts
Hump/backfat & marrow
Hunt Difficulty (x/5)
4