The Official Houston Zoo Blog

Over a span of six weeks, from mid-February to mid-March, we welcomed three baby bongos into the Houston Zoo wildlife family.

Penelope was the first to arrive on February 12.  She weighed 38 pounds at birth.  Two days after she was born she had gained 8 pounds!  Penelope’s mom is Pili and Penelope is her first calf.  Pili is proving to be a great mom.

On March 10, 14 year old Laura delivered Linus who weighed more than 47 pounds at birth.  Laura, by the way is Pili’s mom.

Then on March 18, 12 year old DJ gave birth to Dylan, another 47 pound calf.  Dylan is the first male bongo to be born at the Houston Zoo in 10 years.

To the casual observer, all the calves look alike.  But our keepers found a perfect way to tell them apart – they count the white stripes on their side.  Bongos can have 10 to 14 white stripes on each side and each side can present a different configuration.  For instance, Penelope has 11 stripes on each side.  But Linus has 11 on one side and 13 on the other. Dylan, on the other hand has 13 striped on each side.

So, you might ask – what’s a bongo?  Well, a bongo is a type of antelope native to the lowlands and mountain forests of Kenya and western Africa.  In the wild, bongos are shy and elusive but very social.  In fact, bongos are the only forest antelope to form herds.

The Western or lowland bongo is classified as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the IUCN.  The Eastern or mountain bongo is classified as endangered.

Penelope, Linus, and Dylan and their parents are Eastern bongo and you can see them daily at the bongo exhibit next to our okapi exhibit.