Behavior
Because the okapi is a very secretive animal living in a dense, remote forest area, we do not know much about the species in the wild. Most of what we know is based on research from animals in human care at zoos. It is largely solitary and diurnal (active in the daytime), a change from years of thought this species was nocturnal (active in the nighttime). It spends the day foraging for plants, leaves, grasses and even fungi from their home ranges, overlapping with other okapi home ranges. In fact, the okapi is unique in being the only species of forest ungulate to depend on understory foliage and is known to feed on over 100 species of vegetation. Although this species is not considered territorial, both males and females have been documented marking their range boundaries with urine or scent markings from rubbing their necks on tree trunks. Okapi can communicate to one another, mostly mothers to their calves, using infrasonic sound much below the range of human hearing, similar to elephants.
Reproduction and Breeding
Males are thought to urine test for females ready to mate. After this breeding time, the male and female separate once again. After giving birth, the mother remains near her offspring for a few days, only venturing far enough to forage for food. After a few months, the calf will go through a “nesting phase” where it will bed down in the forest to hide for longer periods of time, while the mother forages further afield. The young okapi will not defecate for quite some time, waiting until it can maintain its body temperature properly and the rumen (first chamber of the stomach) is activated (near the 6th week of age). The young are weaned at six months of age but may continue to suckle for some weeks after this. The youngster may remain near the mother for up to one year before moving off into another part of the forest for its mostly solitary life.
Conservation
While it is difficult to complete an accurate census on the population of wild okapi, the species has been undergoing a decline since at least 1995 in the face of severe, intensifying threats and lack of effective conservation action which is hindered by the lack of security.
Hunting for meat and skins has traditionally been the main threat to wild okapi populations, and okapi decline rapidly in areas where there is persistent use of snares. Currently, the largest threat to the survival of okapi is the presence of illegal armed groups in and around key protected areas. These groups prevent effective conservation action, even surveys and monitoring in most sites, and engage in and facilitate elephant poaching, bushmeat hunting, illegal mining (gold, coltan and diamonds), illegal logging, charcoal production, and agricultural encroachment.
The Sacramento Zoo works to increase awareness and protect this unique species through active research on the individuals housed here, and through its support of the Okapi Conservation Project: a grassroots conservation organization with professionals in the field working to lessen the human pressures affecting the species.
Amazing Facts
- The okapi is the only living relative of the giraffe.
- They were once found in Uganda but are now considered regionally extinct in that country.
- Although known to local tribes for decades, the okapi was “discovered” by Sir Harry Johnston in 1901.