This wedge-like shape enables the bongo to move through thick tangles of vines and brambles that are virtually impassable by humans. It is rarely known to jump over an obstacle higher than three feet. Rather, it prefers to slip beneath them, and needs only about two and a half feet of clearance. Males tend to be darker in color than females and their coats continue to deepen in color as they age. In contrast to most other members of the genus Tragelaphus in which only males have horns, both sexes of bongos possess twisted, backswept horns.
Bongos are active primarily at night.
During the day, they conceal themselves in the forests, alert and ready to flee if any strange sound or scent signals danger. Bongos are browsers and eat tips, shoots, and trailers of plants. They use their horns to uproot tender-rooted saplings, a bongo delicacy. They are also especially fond of bamboo leaves, rotten bark and decayed trees that soften and decompose on the forest foor. They have also been observed eating the charcoal of burned trees, probably for the salt content.