A forest antelope with pale stripes that shelters in dense undergrowth.
Pale vertical stripes mark the body, and both sexes have spiraling horns. Males become darker with age.
At Dzanga National Park in the rainforest of the Central African Republic, researchers studied what bongos ate. They recorded consumed plants along a 311-km route used by bongos and counted plant species and numbers in 19 forest plots. Of 100 woody forest species, bongos showed a strong preference for 26. They ate mostly young leaves, along with fruits from two species and flowers from one.
They also visited large natural licks regularly, where they ate grasses and herbs. The researchers proposed that these licks let a large, social antelope graze in bulk, supplementing its selective browsing. They further hypothesized that licks could limit bongo distribution in other rainforest areas or allow larger groups where licks occur.
IUCN Red List (IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group) · Near Threatened (NT) · Global
The IUCN’s 2016 global assessment lists the bongo as Near Threatened (NT), with a decreasing population trend. An IUCN report on the Central African Republic describes ongoing declines of lowland bongos associated with habitat destruction and hunting. The mountain bongo subspecies has a separate Critically Endangered (CR) assessment.