Welcome to the bongo web site!

 

The bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus) is an African antelope, beautiful and nowadays rarely seen in its natural habitat. Apart from the more common western or "lowland" subspecies, (T. e. eurycerus), the endangered eastern or "mountain" bongo, (T. e. isaaci), found in the wild now only in Kenya, is kept successfully in captivity in over one hundred locations around the world, and a new program to reintroduce the mountain bongo to its historic locale has begun.

 

In January 2004, the first group of captive-born bongo, from zoos in the United States, were flown to the Mt. Kenya area to start a new breeding group whose offspring will eventually be returned to the wild. The Bongo Repatriation Program is a joint effort among many international parties; read more about it in the links on the following page.

 

There you can also read about many of the zoos and conservation organizations which are contributing to the preservation of this precious species.

 

In addition, by clicking on the artwork link, you can see and purchase prints or notecards of the image "Sentinels of Mt. Kenya" by artist Jeffrey Wells; proceeds from the sale of these items will be contributed to the Bongo Repatriation Program.

 

This website is created and maintained by Lydia Frazier Bosley, the keeper of the  International Bongo Studbook, which is recognized by the World Association of Zoos and The World Conservation Union. To learn more about the studbook, you may look at the current edition. The new 2003 International Bongo Studbook (completed April 22, Earth Day, 2004), is available in two parts in PDF format for downloading and printing from the AZA website for those who can use it, as follows:

 

 part 1 - Cover page, preface, table of contents, common and scientific names, ecology, status and distribution of wild population, captive population genetic and demographic analysis, general info. about the studbook, and bibliography of bongo articles  -  click on the following link:

 

 

and part 2 - list of all current locations of captive bongo, llist of all captive bongo throughout history, and current list of living bongo, by location - click on this link: