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Saffron Otter

First look at the incredibly cute, big-eared baby bongo born at Chester Zoo

One of the world's rarest mammals - the eastern bongo - has been born at Chester Zoo.

First images of the incredibly cute, big eared antelope have been released, as well as video footage of the baby calf with its new mum, Safi. 

As the world's largest forest-dwelling antelope, it's also now classified as critically endangered with only 70 left in the wild.

Therefore, the new birth has been hailed as "incredibly important" by conservationists.

Native to East Africa, the population has decimated after being hunted for their meat, horns and hides, as well as having their habitats destroyed.

The baby bongo was born on Wednesday, September 4 and is the first birth of its kind at the zoo for more than 11 years.

The baby bongo with mum Safi (Chester Zoo)

Chester Zoo supports the research being done in Kenya, which is striving to prevent the extinction of the species.

And last year, its conservationists discovered the lowland bongo for the first time in Uganda - a related subspecies.

Dr Nick Davis, Chester Zoo’s deputy curator of mammals, manages the European breeding programme for the subspecies.

He said: "The eastern bongo is an extremely striking animal. It’s frightening to think that the population size of this magnificent, large mammal is so, so small. We fear that their wild number could be as low as 70 mature individuals.

"We’re working hard to prevent their extinction and the new calf at the zoo is an incredibly important arrival. She’s a significant boost to the international breeding programme for these highly threatened animals."

The stripes break up its body shape, helping it to stay camouflaged in the forests where it is found (Chester Zoo)

What is a bongo?

Now found in just one remote area of Kenya, the bongo is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and faces an extremely high risk of becoming extinct in the wild.

The eastern species is recognised for its vibrant reddish-brown coat which features thin white vertical stripes. The stripes break up its body shape, helping it to stay camouflaged in the forests where it is found.

Bongos are herbivores (Chester Zoo)

The animal is a herbivorous, mostly nocturnal forest ungulate and stands at around 1.1 to 1.4m tall at the shoulder, and adult male bongos can weigh over 300kgs.

They have a long flexible tongue, which helps them to reach food, and their strong long horns help them to find food by uprooting plants. Their horns are also used by males for sparing over females.

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