Secret World of the Okapi, 2008

I know the keepers at Chester...and they are doing the best they can with the animals they have. Their female, Stuma, is rather uncooperative with males in a breeding situation and may stop cycling when experencing too much stress...a problem I sometimes encounter myself. Not all pairings are compatiable, especially certain individuals. It often becomes a trial and error effort to find the right results, ie successful breeding. This is just an unfortunatel route that Chester will have to undertake...

This is why it begs the question, why not stick with Mbuti and keep trying instead of bringing a male in short term which will be stressful or Swap males completely and try in years time once she has got used to him?

Because she is not cycling.

So presumably they hope that another male(if she likes him) may stimulate a resumption of her oestrus cycle?

or maby she cant breed

Cat-man she was cycling regularly before last summer (from one of the keepers) but Mbuti was struggling to cover her.

Maybe someone could clarify the exact point she stopped cycling because it seems around the time they introduced the male from Marwell.

Also from my reading up on Okapi its suggested that they introduce only while she is in season! Therefore is it pointless bringing another male in while she's not cycling as the introduction can be lenghty?

Okapi females cannot be stimulated to cycle like felids. They are supposed to cycle every 10-15 days or so...it really varies from female to female. Females stop cycling for a variety of reasons...managment, other okapi or animals, weather, or any stressful event that can occur around a female....they are a rather skittish species and the more skittish individuals do not take well to stress at all.

This isnt quite neccessary...I find it best to introduce okapi when they are not cycling at first, especially for first time females.

Thanks Okapikpr,