It lived from the upper Miocene to the earliest Pliocene, and its fossils have been found in southeastern Europe, parts of Africa, and the Indian subcontinent.

Tragoportax was formerly considered a close relative of the extant nilgai, though more recent studies suggest that it, and several other Miocene "boselaphins", formed a tribe of their own.

The first of the specimens currently assigned to Tragoportax, three horn cores with parts of their skulls still attached, were discovered in Pikermi, Greece.

[1] A few years later, in 1861 Jean Albert Gaudry recognised that the Pikermi fossils were distinct enough from Capra to warrant a genus of their own.

[4] In 1937, Guy Ellcock Pilgrim coined the generic name Tragoportax, to include fossils recovered from the Sivalik Hills in Pakistan.

[8] In 1904, Max Schlosser named a second species of Tragoportax (then Tragocerus), T. rugosifrons, based on material recovered from Samos, Greece.

[3] Tragoportax has often been assigned to the tribe Boselaphini or subfamily Boselaphinae, alongside the modern nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus).

[3][5] However, Bibi et al. (2009) suggested that Boselaphinae as defined was probably non-monophyletic, and that Tragoportax and its relatives should form a separate tribe, Tragoportacini.

[7][12] Tragoportax fossils have been recovered from southeastern Europe, Libya, South Africa, and the Indian subcontinent.

[16] On the other hand, T. macedoniensis (if it is Tragoportax), however, likely inhabited more forested environments, as it possesses traits characteristic of forest-dwelling bovids, such as reductions in body and horn size.

[19] On the other hand, analysis of dental isotopes and microwear suggest that T. rugosifrons was a mixed feeder, eating both leaves and grasses.

[20] The evolution of browsing habits in Tragoportax may have been driven by increased competition from other grazing mammal clades, such as rhinocerotids and equids.