Population and Conservation
Few estimates of population density are available. Assuming average population densities of 0.25 animals per km² in regions where it is known to be common or abundant, and 0.02 per km² elsewhere, and with a total area of occupancy of 327,000 km², a total population estimate of approximately 28,000 is suggested. Only about 60% are in protected areas, suggesting that actual numbers of the lowland subspecies may only be in the low tens of thousands. In Kenya, their numbers have declined significantly and on Mt. Kenya, they were extirpated within the last decade due to illegal hunting with dogs. Although information on their status in the wild is lacking, lowland bongos are not presently considered endangered.
Bongos are susceptible to diseases such as rinderpest, which almost exterminated the species the 1890s. The Tragelaphus eurycerus may suffer from goitre. Over the course of the disease, the thyroid glands greatly enlarge (up to 10 x 20 cm) and may become polycystic. Pathogenesis of goiter in the bongo may reflect a mixture of genetic predisposition coupled with environmental factors, including a period of exposure to a goitrogen. Leopards and spotted hyenas are the primary natural predators (lions are seldomly encountered due to differing habitat preferences); pythons sometimes eat bongo calves. Humans prey on them for their pelts, horns and meat, with the species being a common local source for "bush meat". Bongo populations have been greatly reduced by hunting, poaching and animal trapping, although some bongo refuges exist.
Although bongos are quite easy for humans to catch via snares; it is of interest that many people native to the bongos habitat believed that if they ate or touched bongo they would have spasms similar to epileptic seizures. Because of this superstition, bongos were less harmed in their native ranges than expected. However, these taboos are said no longer to exist and that may account for increased hunting by humans in recent times.
Read more about this topic: Bongo (antelope)
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