|
Photos: Okapi born this spring at the Bronx Zoo makes first public appearance
mongabay.com
July 27, 2009
An okapi calf born this spring at the Bronx Zoo made its first public appearance, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society.
The endangered forest giraffe, which has been named Mbaya, is the fourth calf born to her mother at the Bronx Zoo's Congo Gorilla Forest exhibit. she weighed 65 pounds at birth.
"We are pleased that our okapi breeding program here at the Bronx Zoo has so been successful," said Jim Breheny, Director of the Bronx Zoo and Senior Vice President of WCS’s Living Institutions. “Okapi are incredibly shy creatures. We are pleased to give our visitors this rare, close-up glimpse of this amazing animal.”
The okapi looks like a a cross between a zebra, a donkey, and a giraffe. The species, which was first encountered by Europeans in 1900 and described by scientists in 1902, lives only in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central Africa.
The Bronx Zoo first acquired an Okapi in 1937 and helped establish the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in Democratic Republic of Congo in 1992. Last year, WCS researchers discovered okapi in Virunga National Park, where it had not been seen in more than 50 years.
Photos by Julie Larsen Maher
SHARE THIS ARTICLE:
Tags:
in-situ conservation endangered species wildlife zoos wcs mammals animals dr congo congo happy-upbeat environmental Photos environment
CITATION:
mongabay.com (July 27, 2009). Photos: Okapi born this spring at the Bronx Zoo makes first public appearance. http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0727-okapi_wcs.html
|
News index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home
Advertisements:
Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing
|
|
MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
CONTENTS
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
INTERACT
POPULAR PAGES
STORE
SHIRTS
HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS
CALENDARS
Mount Kenya
East Africa Safari Wildlife
Kenya's Turkana People
Peru
African Wildlife
Alaska
China
Madagascar Chameleons
CANVAS BAGS
Hallucinogenic frog bag
Madagascar wildlife bag
|
|
|
