The slash on the little girl's ear does not seem to be too bad, and I 
don't think that we will have any hindrance to her breeding. Incidentally, 
she has not been checked for parasites. May I suggest that you have 
that done cover at the Veterinary School? Dr. Gray said that she was 
very fond of bananas, and a local vine which he did not know the name of. 
I suspect that you have her on your type of food. Clint also said that she 
was very gentle, was used to a lead by a collar, and that she was 
strongly imprinted on her special attendant, although Clint said that by 
the time he left her in Zurich she was quite friendly with many different 
people. Clint also said that Heini Hediger wanted to keep her in 
Switzerland, and I really don't blame him. 
Clint spent three or four days at the palm nut plantation where the bongo 
was caught. Apparently the method of capture was to bay out the mother 
and infant. While the mother is busy with the dogs, the calf tends to 
stray off and then it can be caught. Presumably the mother was then 
turned loose, but I would assume that she got turned loose into the local 
cook pot. The owner of the plantation, a Mr. Gude, is quite a hunter and | 
has shot several bongos; he is interested in them, and is paying the best 
"poacher" in the neighborhood to trail and observe bongos so that he could 
get some idea of their habits. From what Clint gathered, they behave 
very much like the ones in Kenya, althcdlgh the forest is different. It is 
not bamboo and eugenia. The animals are right down on the bay; the 
location of the palm nut plantation is about 15 miles from salt water at 
an elevation of 200 meters. Clint heard no mention of the animals 
eating rotten logs, nor was there any mention of the mothers hiding out 
their babies, as is saidin Kenya. Clint is having the various food samples 
identified. It is interesting to note that the bongo in the Ivory Coast 
is a very dainty, picky browser, as he is in Kenya. | 
As 1 mentioned above, Clint said that she was heavily imprinted on 
humans, so it might be well if you could work her in later with the male, 
or with some other animal. I have often thought that this might be the 
trouble with Len Goss's female; she is oriented on Mrs. Root and has 
not had a vigorous interest in other bongos. Maybe this is the reason 
she does not breed, or maybe it is all the male's fault. One thing is sure, 
the male that you have was caught when he was old enough so that he 
should be a vigorous breeder. | 
Concerning names for the bongos, the female from the Ivory Coast is 
Ehania, the name of the forest where she was caught. I leave the 
selection of the name of the male up to you, although I would suggest 
some name reminiscent of the area, such as Kianuturi or Mathoya or even 
the name of that silly mountain we climbed, which I believe was Gilki. 
Or perhaps you would want to name it after one of the boys. One other 
good suggestion is that we name the animal after you. We have Tony, Thelma 
and Michael-John, and we have Willie and Lucy, but we don't have John. 
Maybe a later animal could be named after Tony's daughter. Isn't this a 
heck of a note naming animals that have not been caught yet? 
Kindest regards. 
Theodore H. Reed, D.V.M, 
Director | 
