Dublin Zoo is celebrating the arrival of a baby boy. A beautiful okapi calf was born in the early morning of Thursday the 7 July to parents Lumara (aged 7) and Kitabu (aged 14).
He even stood up just 20 minutes after being born and was suckling within hours. The little cutie is in excellent health, and he has been growing steadily. Lumara has been showing excellent maternal instincts and Kitabu has also been displaying great interest in the newborn’s development.
Dublin Zoo is holding a competition to name the new calf, with the winner selected by the zoo keepers to win a family day pass. You must choose a name of African origin to reflect the okapi’s Democratic Republic of Congo’s origins. You can enter here, and the lucky winner will be announced on Dublin Zoo’s social channels when the competition closes on September 9.
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Helen Clarke, team leader at Dublin Zoo said: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome this okapi calf to Dublin Zoo. The species is listed as Endangered so every birth is extremely important. The infant is nesting at the moment, as is typical for okapi calves, but will soon emerge to accompany his mother into their outdoor habitat.
“The baby is doing very well and visitors to the zoo walking through the African Plains may be lucky enough to get a glimpse of the new arrival in the coming days."
This is the second okapi ever to be born in Ireland. The first, a female named Dalia also born at Dublin Zoo to parents Lumara and Kitabu on Halloween in 2019. Infant okapis spend most of their time in their nest/hide under the protection of their mother during their first two months.
Okapis are a large, hoofed animal related to the giraffe. They have a red-brown, velvety coat with distinctive black and white stripes on their back legs. Okapis have long, dark tongues, just like the giraffe.
They are herbivores (plant eaters) that eat a diet of leaves, shoots, fruit and fungi. They also eat clay and charcoal (from burnt trees) to help neutralise toxins in plants and to gain minerals.
Dublin Zoo has been supporting the okapi conservation since 2012, with financial contributions to support rangers and community services in and around the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Okapi Wildlife Reserve monitors and protects okapi populations in the DRC.
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