El bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus) es un huidizo antílope que vive en los bosques de África Central. Su librea es entre marrón y rojiza con franjas blancas verticales en el torso, la parte interior de las patas es algo más clara, tiene orejas grandes y una marca amarilla debajo de los ojos. Su rasgo más distintivo son sus grandes cuernos verticales y enroscados formando una espiral. A pesar de que el tamaño de machos y hembras es similar, entre 1,1 y 1,3 m hasta la cruz, y de 2,15 a 3,15 m de largo, los machos pesan mucho más, con una media de 310 kg frente a los 190 kg de las hembras.
Latin Name
Tragelaphus erycerus
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bongo
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Animal Facts
Although the bongo's horns are used for fighting (especially by males), they are more often used for clearing branches and scrub out of the way while they are foraging in dense woodland.
Bongos are 'crepuscular' animals; they are most active at dusk and dawn.
For the first week of a newborn bongo calf's life, it remains hidden silently in the undergrowth and its mother will return to it often to feed it.
There is a small group of Bongos that live in the mountains of Kenya. These are a subspecies of bongo called the 'mountain bongo' and have been long isolated from the forest population.
Bongos are known to eat charcoal from burned trees after lightning strikes and forest fires. It is believed they use this as a source of salt and minerals.