The pride of Folly Farm's zoo, Bullo the Eastern Bongo, has now been joined by another member of this fascinating and endangered species. Last week, a young male, Ted, arrived from Marwell Zoo in Hampshire. The two bongos are being housed at Folly Farm, Begelly, in cooperation with the European Breeding Programme for Endangered Species, in which the housing of bachelor males plays a key role. The matching of males and females is closely monitored to maintain a healthy gene pool. If there are females in a group then the males will fight- meaning more males than females need homes to prevent this. According to head keeper Tim Morphew: "If the breeding programme needs Bullo and Ted's genes to be represented in the captive population then they will be used for mating. Until then, I'm delighted to say they are getting on very well and are extremely happy here." It took four days for the boys to be introduced, allowing them to get used to each other slowly. This involved housing them next to one another for their smells to become familiar. After two days they were introduced and kept indoors. Two days later, the bongos were released into their large, shared enclosure and are the best of friends. Said Tim: "I couldn't be happier, they're getting on extremely well. They can often be seen testing their strength in play-fights or playing together with the various toys and posts provided in their enclosure. "It's great we've found Bullo a friend... sadly, bongos are extremely rare, so he's been on his own for a while. But now we've found him some company they're both happier than ever."
