bongo

[Probably of Bantu origin, akin to Lingala mongu, antelope.]

[American Spanish bongó, probably of West African origin.]

(click to enlarge)
Bongo (Boocercus euryceros). (credit: Tom McHugh/Photo Researchers)

Large, brightly coloured antelope (Tragelaphus eurycerus) found in dense forests of central Africa. Shy, swift, and elusive, the bongo lives in small groups or in pairs. It stands about 51 in. (1.3 m) at the shoulder and has an erect mane running the length of the back. Both sexes bear heavy, spirally twisted horns. The male is reddish brown to dark mahogany with black underparts, black-and-white legs, white head markings, and narrow, vertical white stripes on the body. The female is similarly marked but usually a brighter reddish brown.

For more information on bongo, visit Britannica.com.

A visual interface builder for Java originally from Marimba and later released into the public domain. Bongo output featured a variety of ready-to-use controls, known as "interface widgets."

Download Computer Desktop Encyclopedia to your iPhone/iTouch

You play with this bongo a little differently than with the familiar bongo drums. In fact, it's hard to play with this bongo at all, since it weighs a good six hundred pounds. And it's hard to see, at least in its native habitat. Boldly striped white on red, the bongo blends almost invisibly into the dappled sunshine of the equatorial forests of Africa. It is an antelope, husky and hump-backed. Aided by horns that curve backward, the bongo is strong enough to plow through the dense forest with clearance as low as two and a half feet, or to jump six feet from a standing start. It finds forage and safety in bushes, brambles, and vines. It is a vegetarian, munching new plant growth and saplings as well as bamboo leaves and rotten logs.

Outside its homeland, there are about two hundred bongos in zoos around the world, and many have been bred in captivity. But it remains relatively rare and elusive. Until the 1940s, only the zoos in New York City and Rome had bongos in captivity; even by 1970 only a dozen had been exhibited. As early as 1861, however, its name bongo appeared in English, in a book on equatorial Africa. The bongo drum that makes music, a term from American Spanish, is a totally different word and a relative latecomer; it did not immigrate into English until 1920.

In Africa, bongo antelopes live in forests from Sierra Leone on the west coast to Kenya on the east, though they are not easy to find even there. The name bongo is from one or more of the Bantu languages spoken in that area. Kélé, a Niger-Congo language spoken by about 100,000 people in Gabon on the west coast, is a likely candidate. Nothing else from Kélé has made its way into English.

A pair of small African-Cuban single-headed drums with conical or cylindrical hardwood shells. Created in Cuba c 1900, they are played in Latin American dance bands, rumba bands and Western rhythm bands. Composers who have used bongos in their scores include Varèse, Orff and Boulez.

The antelope Boocercus eurycerus.

Look up bongo or bongos in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Bongo(s) may refer to:

In nature:

• Bongo (antelope), a species of forest antelope from Africa

In geography:

• Bongo Country, the name of several places in Africa
• Bongo (Grand-Bassam), Ivory Coast

In entertainment:

• Bongo drum, a percussion instrument made up of two small drums attached to each other
• The Bongos, an America pop music band
• Music Man Bongo, a model of bass guitar
• DK Bongos, a video game controller

In vehicles:

• Kia Bongo, an automobile
• Mazda Bongo, a van

In computing:

• Bongo (animation), a plug-in for the Rhinoceros 3D modeling program
• Bongo (software), an open source mail and calendar project

In fiction:

• Bongo Comics, a comic book publishing company
• Bongo (Dragon Ball) or Krillin, a character in Dragon Ball media
• Bongo, a character in the 1947 Walt Disney animated film Fun and Fancy Free
• Bongo, a character in the Matt Groening comic strip Life in Hell
• Bongo submarine, a fictional vehicle in the film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

In other uses:

• Bongo people, an ethnic group in Sudan
  • Bongo language, their language, of the Bongo-Baka branch of Central Sudanic languages

People with the surname

• Omar Bongo (1935–2009), former president of Gabon
• Ali Bongo (1929–2009), British comedy magician
• Ali Bongo Ondimba (born 1959), Current president of Gabon and son of Omar Bongo

See also

• Bongo-Bagirmi languages
• Operation Bongo II or Oklahoma City sonic boom tests
• Um Bongo, a British fruit drink marketed at children
• Bongo Flava, a nickname for Tanzanian hip hop music

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - bongotromme

2.
n. - bongo

Nederlands (Dutch)
bongo (trom), Afrikaanse antilope

Français (French)
1.
n. - (Mus) bongo

2.
n. - (Zool) antilope (des forêts d'Afrique du Sud)

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Bongo (Handtrommeln)

2.
n. - (zo.) Afrikanische Waldantilope

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - είδος μεγαλόσωμης αντιλόπης, (μουσ.) μπόνγκο, είδος μικρού τύμπανου

Italiano (Italian)
tamburello, specie di antilope

Português (Portuguese)
n. - tipo de tambor (m) tocado com as mãos

Русский (Russian)
африканский барабан

Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - bongó

2.
n. - antílope africano

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - bongotrumma

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 非洲产大羚羊

2. 一种用手指敲的小鼓

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
n. - 非洲產大羚羊

2.
n. - 一種用手指敲的小鼓

한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 봉고 영양

2.
n. - 봉고(작은 북)

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ボンゴ

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) طبل موسيقى‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮בונגו (תוף)‬
n. - ‮איילה גדולה שוכנת-יער באפריקה המרכזית‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.