Merida

Merida (born 2019 at the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Florida) is a female eastern bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci) on exhibit alongside the male Nakuru in the Trails of Africa section of the Birmingham Zoo.

Eastern bongos are a type of antelope native to mountainous regions of east Africa, and presently restricted to a small and critically endangered wild population inhabiting Mau Eburu Forest in the Aberdare Range in central Kenya. They are large and relatively stocky with bright red-brown fur marked with widely-spaced white stripes and marked by a raised ridge down the spine. Their heads have large, rounded ears and long, upturned spiral horns.

Bongos are conserved in part through a Species Survival Plan developed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in the United States. 47 AZA members participate, with at least one group of 18 captive-bred animals re-introduced into the wild in 2004. Merida was brought to Birmingham as part of that program.