-> Fauna : Mammals 



Hut these horns puzzled such authorities as Dr. Sclater, 

 because though differing from tragelaphs of the Nyala type 

 they were not exactly similar to those of the Hongo of West 

 Africa. The mystery was cleared up by Mr. F. W. Isaac, 

 who in 1901 and 1902 obtained magnificent specimens (now 

 in the British Museum) of male and female Bongos from 

 the forests of the Nandi Plateau. It was then seen that this 

 East African type was very slightly different from the West 

 African in its markings, and that the female bongo had horns, 

 just as the female eland develops these appendages. It is prob- 

 able, though it has not yet been established, that in the West 

 African bongo the females are also horned. 1 The horns of the 

 female are shorter and a little straighter and are not so widely 

 separated in the middle as are those of the male. 



There is very little difference in coloration between the 

 East and the West African forms ; but it would seem as though 

 in the East African type the large white spots on the cheeks 

 were fused into a long white line, whereas in the West African 

 type the spots remain separate. The East African type also 

 may develop slightly larger horns in the male. In the size and 

 shape of its body, and above all in the tail, which is long, cow- 

 like and tufted, this animal resembles the eland more than any 

 other tragelaph. It does not attain to the same beauty of 

 outline and grace as may be witnessed in the kudu, but it is 

 in coloration one of the brightest and handsomest of mammals. 

 The coat is for the most part a splendid red-gold, boldly striped 

 and marked with pure white. There are blackish brown patches 

 on the inside of the ears ; the face, throat and limbs (chiefly 

 on the inner side) have bold white markings, and this white 



1 Du Chaillu sent home from the Gaboon in 1858 a specimen which was 

 obviously a female, though the possession of horns compelled Dr. Gray to class it 

 as a male. 



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