A large African antelope with long, slender, twisted horns, found in forest regions.
From Bantu languages of central Africa, likely related to words meaning 'twisted' or 'spiral'. The word entered English through 19th-century naturalists' documentation of African fauna.
The bongo's spiraling horns are so perfectly twisted that hunters and poachers valued them as trophies, which is why bongos have become endangered—their most distinctive feature became the reason for their near-extinction.
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