Rare, endangered okapi born at Oklahoma City Zoo

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens announced that a rare, endangered okapi was born on Wednesday, marking the first okapi born at the zoo since 2015.

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In a news release, the zoo announced that the calf was born Sept. 7 at 3:42 a.m. in the zoo’s okapi barn. The baby, a boy, is the firstborn to mother Kayin and father Bosomi. The baby is the seventh okapi calf to be born at the zoo.

“We are overjoyed about the arrival of Kayin’s first calf and welcoming this new generation to our okapi family,” Tracey Dolphin, OKC Zoo’s curator of hoofstock and primates, said in a statement. “Kayin is being a very attentive first-time mother and demonstrating exceptional maternal care. Her new calf is healthy and strong and meeting his milestones including nursing and bonding with mom.”

The zoo had announced Kayin’s pregnancy in May, saying at the time that “An okapi birth is a significant event not only for our animal family but for the okapi population as a whole.”

The calf has not yet been named, and will not go on display for several weeks, KOCO reported.

Okapi are classified as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, with their population decrease being blamed largely on habitat loss due to logging and human settlement, the OKC Zoo said in its news release.

Okapi are native to Congo, where it is believed there may only be a few thousand in the wild today, according to IUCN.

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