Critically Endangered Mountain Bongo Baby was born at Polish Zoo

A newborn mountain bongo baby was born two weeks ago at the Warsaw Zoo in Poland. Due to extreme weather conditions, the newborn was kept indoors, it was seen enjoying its first walk outside with its mother. The zoo officials were able to determine the newborn baby’s gender.

Mountain bongo’s are the largest African forest antelopes. According to the IUCN's (International Union Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species, they are declared as critically endangered species with only about 70 to 80 adults left in the wild.

These animals are nocturnal beings. They have a striking appearance due to their long horns and reddish-brown coat with white or yellow markings in the form of thin vertical lines.

While speaking to a local news agency, the head of the ungulates section at Warsaw Zoo, Sylwia Grodkowska stated that increasing the population of these species is extremely difficult. Warsaw Zoo is the only zoo in Europe that keeps them in an open pavilion for visitors to visit.

The mountain bongo baby is the firstborn of the mother Bongo. The zoo employees found the newborn along with her mother when the employees went for their daily check at the zoo in the morning. Due to extremely cold weather, the baby had to stay indoors for the first few days.

Sylwia further mentioned that she is a small antelope and she has only two things to do in a day. The first is to eat and the second is to sleep.