Bongo

Open encyclopedia reference

The bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus) is a large, mostly nocturnal, forest-dwelling antelope, native to sub-Saharan Africa. Bongos are characterised by a striking reddish-brown coat, black-and-white markings, white-yellow stripes, and long, slightly spiraled horns. Bongos have complex social interactions and are found in African dense forest mosaics. They are the third-largest antelope in the world.

In 2000, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in the US upgraded the bongo to a Species Survival Plan participant and in 2006 added the Bongo Restoration to Mount Kenya Project to its list of the Top Ten Wildlife Conservation Success Stories of the year. As of 2013, these successes have been compromised by reports of possibly only 100 mountain bongos left in the wild due to logging and poaching.

Wikipedia contributors, Bongo (antelope); see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T01:20:07.147400+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Tragelaphus eurycerus (Ogilby, 1837)

Name authority

(Ogilby, 1837)

Common name

Bongo

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Artiodactyla

Family

Bovidae

Genus

Tragelaphus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderArtiodactyla Owen, 1848
12. familyBovidae Gray, 1821
13. subfamilyBovinae Gray, 1821
14. tribeTragelaphini Blyth, 1863
15. genusTragelaphus Blainville, 1816
16. speciesTragelaphus eurycerus (Ogilby, 1837)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Tragelaphus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 166 records assigned to Bovidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=625130 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:57VQQ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.