Bongo

Bongo Physical Characteristics

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Bovidae

Genus: Tragelaphus

Scientific Name: Tragelaphus eurycerus

Common Name: Bongo

Other Name(s): Lowland Bongo, Mountain Bongo

Group: Mammal

Number Of Species: 2

Location: Western, Eastern and Central Africa

Habitat: Dense forests and bamboo thickets

Colour: Orange, Red, Chestnut, White, Brown, Black

Skin Type: Fur

Size (L): 1.7m - 2.5m (5.5ft - 8.25ft)

Weight: 150kg - 220kg (330lbs - 484lbs)

Top Speed: 70kph (43mph)

Diet: Herbivore

Prey: Leaves, Bark, Grasses

Predators: Leopards, Hyenas, Lions

Lifestyle: Diurnal

Group Behaviour: Solitary/Herd

Lifespan: 10 - 18 years

Age Of Sexual Maturity: 20 - 24 months

Gestation Period: 9 months

Average Litter Size: 1

Name Of Young: Calf

Age Of Weaning: 6 months

Conservation Status: Near Threatened

Estimated Population Size: 28,000

Biggest Threat: Habitat loss

Most Distinctive Feature: 10 - 15 white stripes on body

Fun Fact: Long and heavy spiralled horns

Bongo Classification and Evolution 

The Bongo is a vast types of pronghorn that is found occupying the wildernesses and backwoods of Eastern, Western and Central Africa. They are the biggest woods abiding gazelle species and a standout amongst the most unmistakable, with a chestnut hued coat and long horns that winding as high as 90cm in guys. There are two perceived sub-types of Bongo which are the Mountain Bongo (otherwise called the Eastern Bongo) and the Lowland Bongo (otherwise called the Western Bongo), which is fundamentally found in the woodlands of Central Africa. The two types of Bongo are compromised by both chasing and living space misfortune with populaces having declined altogether enough for it to be recorded as a close undermined animal categories by the IUCN, as despite the fact that regardless it has a generally wide conveyance, populaces are winding up increasingly segregated.

Bongo Anatomy and Appearance 

The Bongo is a substantial and overwhelming bodied impala with a short and shiny, orange or chestnut hued coat that is darker on the underside and designed with somewhere in the range of 10 and 15 vertical white stripes that assistance the Bongo to stay covered in the thick wilderness. They additionally have particular white markings on their cheeks, a white chevron between the eyes and nose and a white sickle like shape on their chest. The legs of the Bongo are united with both white and dark and their long tail has a tufted tip. Bongos likewise have extensive ears giving them extremely delicate hearing and a long prehensile tongue which enables them to hold onto leaves higher up and take them from the branches effortlessly. Their particular spiraled horns generally have it is possible that one or one-and-half winds, with those of guys being longer and more looped than the horns of the somewhat littler and lighter-shaded females. Bongos additionally have a flimsy mane that keeps running along their body from the shoulders to the back end.

Bongo Distribution and Habitat 

The Bongo is locally found occupying the thick woods of Eastern, Western and Central Africa and in spite of the fact that it is as yet found in various distinctive nations today, populaces are diminishing in size with the Bongo currently really viewed as terminated from certain districts. The Lowland Bongo possesses the thick marsh backwoods and bamboo shrubberies of Western and Central Africa, and in spite of the fact that is as yet found all through quite a bit of its verifiable range in Central Africa, is getting to be rarer in the West. Mountain Bongos were once found in the good country backwoods of both Kenya and Uganda however are currently confined to only four regions in Kenya in the wake of having vanished from Uganda toward the start of the twentieth century. Populaces have diminished quickly all through quite a bit of their common range because of territory misfortune, principally as deforestation.

Bongo Behavior and Lifestyle 

The Bongo is a timid and tricky animal that is only sometimes observed by individuals because of its very nighttime way of life. Similarly as with numerous other gazelle species, Bongos turn and escape very quickly when they feel undermined and can vanish rapidly into the encompassing woods, running with their horns laid back against their body to keep them from getting tangled up in the vegetation. Male Bongos are singular and will just come into contact with different Bongos to breed, though in spite of the fact that females can be found without anyone else, they frequently structure crowds that can contain up to 50 individuals and comprise of the females and their young (for assurance). Bongos produce a wide range of calls so they can impart including snorts, grunts, moos and bleating to caution others of moving toward threat or when they are in trouble.

Bongo Reproduction and Life Cycles 

Most mating will in general happen among October and January, after which the female Bongo will bring forth a solitary calf following a growth period that goes on for around 9 months. So as to attempt and shield the defenseless calf from predators, females bring forth their calf in thick vegetation where she abandons it lying quietly for about seven days. Amid this time, the mother returns normally to nurture her calf and when the calf is sufficient they both collaborate with different females and their young for better security. Bongo calves become generally quick and their horns start to appear when they are three or four months old. Weaning happens at a half year however calves will in general stay with the nursery gather for more.

Bongo Diet and Prey 

The Bongo is a herbivorous vertebrate which implies that they just feed on plant matter so as to pick up the nourishment that they have to endure. Bongos are specific programs that feed on leaves, roots, bark and grasses under the front of night to keep them more secure from the various meat eating predators that they share their natural surroundings with. The Bongo has a prehensile tongue which encourages it to achieve new leaves higher up and furthermore helps it when hauling finds of the ground. Like different elands (and steers which they are firmly related as well), the Bongo has a four-chambered ruminating stomach to assist it with breaking down the cellulose that the plants contain. Sustenance goes through their stomach related framework in all respects gradually in contrast with different warm blooded creatures to augment the dietary admission.

Bongo Predators and Threats

Bongos are prey to various expansive predators in their encompassing surroundings with Leopards being their most regular characteristic danger alongside Lions in specific zones. The youthful calves are likewise helpless against predation from Pythons and Hyenas all through a lot of their common range. Another enormous danger to Bongos is the way that they are especially vulnerable to malady with the whole populace having been almost cleared out in the late 1800s. They are be that as it may, at the greatest hazard from individuals who don't simply chase them both straightforwardly and by setting catches yet have additionally decimated quite a bit of their one immense normal range through deforestation to both clear a path for farming and to accumulate tropical woods for the timber business.

Bongo Interesting Facts and Features 

Despite the fact that they will in general be most dynamic among nightfall and sunrise, Bongos are known to once in a while peruse amid the day yet will never leave the thick vegetation that encompasses them. To assist them with cooling down in the warmth, Bongos flounder in mud which they at that point rub onto a tree as a method for cleaning their smooth and substantial horns. In spite of being chased for sustenance in numerous zones, in others there is a lot of superstition encompassing the Bongo by the local individuals. Some trust that eating as well as simply contacting Bongo will make the individual have fits and they are in this manner not very influenced by chasing in these spots.

Bongo Relationship with Humans 

In numerous zones all through their characteristic range, Bongos have been chased by individuals for meat yet in addition turned into a prize focus for major game trophy seekers which crushed neighborhood populaces. The greatest effect that individuals have had on the Bongo however is the way that immense zones of their regular territories have vanished to prepare for farming and to give touching to domesticated animals. This expanding closeness to Humans has prompted episodes of ailment in Bongos, alongside serious populace decreases because of their lessening living spaces and in this manner, an expanding absence of both sustenance and appropriate timberland spread which Bongos vigorously depend on.

Bongo Conservation Status and Life Today 

Today, the Bongo is recorded by the IUCN as a creature that is Near Threatened by annihilation from the wild sooner rather than later. In spite of the fact that the Mountain Bongo has dependably been uncommon it is expected that there could be as few as just 75 people left in the good country backwoods of Kenya, where they are currently ensured. The Lowland Bongo is getting to be rarer in Western Africa however populaces albeit diminishing, stay across the board all through quite a bit of their authentic range in Central Africa.