October 18th: World Okapi Day; the perfect day to publish my latest zoo-project. I've made a map showing all current captive okapis. At each institution you'll find info about the individuals they keep, but also since when they have the species, when the first birth took place, how many offspring have been produced, etc. (There are also sections on the map about institutions that kept okapis in the past and about those that are planning to do so in the future) It's an Okapi World - Google My Maps Many thanks to 3 fellow okapis-zoo-nerds that provided me with data, cause without them I'd never have managed this. They are so much more resourceful at finding useful data than I am
I'm glad you like it! This is the first I've heard about that. Please do tell more! Are they building or is this some dream they have? Timeline? (I suppose that would be with animals from the SSP again, like Japan, SA and UAE)
See this thread for starters: Taronga Zoo - African Savannah and Congo Forest development plans It is a proposed "swap" between Taronga and San Diego, okapi for platypus. An application has been made to put okapi on the "allowed import" list for Australia, but there is no current IRA for giraffids so even once they go on the import list they can't actually be imported until an IRA is completed - and that could be years away at the rate these things get done.
Thanks for the info! Sounds more like a dream than a serious plan. If import, so far, is not permitted... Still, I've added the zoo to the map. If it ever comes to that point I do hope they do it like Al Bustan and not like Pretoria. Those Pretoria animals are just lost to the population. Surely they were off over-represented lineages, but still. The resources used to send them all the way there could be used in a better fashion. @ Kifaru; I do hope there will be some exchange with Japan in the near future. At the moment they're sort of in a dead end street (unless they start inbreeding).
Great job... Please add: Leipzig Zoo kept a male Okapi from 1959-1968. Unfortunately an unknown female died on its way to the zoo.
Great site, well done. Maybe someone can help me with info on Dublin's Okapis. Currently Kituba male and Lumara female. Sept 2013, 2 males arrived from Rotterdam, Kamba aged 14 and Kituba aged 6. Kamba died within a short time and was replaced with a new male? So as far as I know this was the case till the female arrived and now there is a pair. So does anyone know where the missing male went or did he die, and also where he came from originally. I cant find anything on google or can't remember his name. Edit just found the name, Isiro.
Thanks Björn for pointing that out! I checked my database and apart from the male you mentioned there was also a male present in 2005-2006 before the current male arrived. Added and corrected. Thanks! @dublinlion: Exactly Isiro. He was born in Rotterdam in 2000, spent many years in Marwell (where he fathered 1,1 offspring. The female is still alive (Wroclaw), the male was the previous breeding male in Lisbon), came to Dublin on 26-06-2014 and died in 2018 (i'm not sure when). Obviously he had the age for it.. Small correction the current male is named "Kitabu". You switched the U and the A around
Very interesting project , do you think you will produce ones in the future for other species? Personally I would find it very interesting to see more of these.