By Sheetal Kumari | August 25, 2025
\Africa’s biggest and most vibrant antelope, the bongo, captivates with its impressive stripes and elusive forest existence.
Image: Canva
Bongos possess chestnut fur with white stripes, spiralled horns, and dramatic black-and-white markings around their faces.
Image: Canva
They are the largest forest antelopes, weighing a maximum of 400 kilograms, but are remarkably elusive in the wild.
Image: Canva
Bongos are timid, nighttime creatures that love dense forests, shunning open spaces and human interaction.
Image: Canva
They occur throughout Central and West African forests, with a smaller threatened subspecies in Kenya’s Aberdare Mountains.
Image: Canva
Bongos are herbivores and eat leaves, grasses, shrubs, roots, and bark from trees in their forest habitats.
Image: Canva
Males and females both possess long spiralled horns, which they set back gingerly when running in dense cover.
Image: Canva
Bongos usually travel in small groups with females at the lead, while older males tend to be alone.
Image: Canva
Their population is decreasing as a result of habitat loss and hunting, and the mountain bongos have been categorized as critically endangered.
Image: Canva
The beauty and rarity of the bongo make it a potent symbol of Africa’s untamed forest and conservation.
Image: Canva