Kenya to boost population of one of Africa’s most endangered antelope

The Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy is on track to receive four male mountain bongos from European zoos, a move aimed at helping to boost the population of one of Africa’s most endangered antelope. The transfer was led by experts from Chester Zoo, in England, in collaboration with Kenya Wildlife Service and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

The most recent IUCN assessment in 2016 found the forest-dwelling antelope were critically endangered with just 70-80 adults remaining in the wild at the time, all of them in Kenya. In the last decade, mountain bongos briefly experienced a surge in the wild population. The Kenyan national wildlife census report states that in 2021, there were roughly 150 wild mountain bongos, but by 2025, there were just 66.

Kenyan experts attribute the species’ decline to a combination of habitat loss and poaching. While wild populations have crashed, captive bongos are on the rise, “from 54 in 2021 to 93 by 2025,” according to the wildlife census.