Found this pic on flickr, does anyone have anything more concrete? Hot News from London Zoo on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Thanks for that Bele, what is your source for the news, i can't find anything on the web, have sent an e-mail to the zoo for any news.
Kiang - I got it from Okapi management site - a brilliant site ( for okapi enthusiasts ) I only recently found after my enquiry on ZooBeat , I cannot remember which member pointed it out to me - it is on the okapis thread .
It appears that the London calf has died... "from London Zoo sad news arrived. The female calf, born on july 14th, died. First post-mortem results show an intestinal problem." taken from the Okapi management website Okapi management site
That is a real shame . I had a look on the ZSL web-site yesterday and could see nothing so wondered what was happening . The Curse of announcing an impending birth , as with Zola at Colchester . Considering how knowledge of the animals requirements seems to be increasing the expected success does not follow - this really is a difficult species . There have been quite a few losses in the SSP recently , they had seemed to be having more success than the EEP . I am certainly far from an expert , I wonder what others who know more think about the situation .
This is the first death of an Okapi calf born in the UK that I'm aware of in recent years. Although births are few and far between, most appear to have survived, including this female's previous two..
Just a note about the Okapi SSP....15 years ago the SSP population began a population explosion. Being that okapi only live 15-20 years, it doesnt quite surprise me that an increase in deaths would occur at a later point. Recently there has also been a decrease in okapi births, so the recent deaths was a bigger punch to the population.
Is it true that okapi calves don't have a bowel movement for the first few weeks? If so, an intenstinal problem would have been very difficult to forsee. I am sure the care given to the infant could not be faulted at London, though. It is a shame that they will have to wait at least two years before another calf will be born. I favoured the setup London had before, when Elila had her last two calves and they also held two males for a while, allowing them to hold 4 okapi at one point....when they were kept in what is now the current zebra area. They had 3 separate outdoor enclosures, and twice the indoor space they now occupy, and if they had remained here the scope to hold more than one adult female would have been obvious. But it would seem that zebras were a 'must have' for the Into Africa exhibit, I'm assuming because they thought they could successfully mix them with the giraffes to create a mixed 'paddock'. The zebras are quite pointless as an exhibit, and basically replaced the successful breeding group of Eastern bongo (when the okapi were moved into their enclosure). I also remember a story coming out that at least one of the zebra had to be given some kind of anti-depressants on being moved into the exhibit...does anyone else remember reading this? - I have no idea whether or not this is true, but if they came from a large open paddock system to the sand yards of London zoo, I imagine they would have experienced at least some measurable reaction to the change. One of the zebras now appears to have either died or been moved out of the collection, leaving three.
1. Yes, I think your correct that Okapi don't have a bowel movement for a protracted length of time after they're born.. 2. I agree, the Zebras at London mostly just stand and do nothing, as there's no grazing. They look best in a larger group on grass where they will move around grazing etc which they can't do at London. They might as well have cardboard cutouts there. 3. I'd be interested to know where these London zebra came from. Whipsnade also have two 'bachelor males(Chapman's)- one is I think the 35 yearold survivor from their previous group and since last year he's now got a younger companion, I can't remember where that one came from- could be he's from the London group but I think it was somewhere else..
It was obviously a management decision that in 'Into Africa' required several new species to draw visitors in to what is basically a set of exisiting enclosures given a makeover. It's a real shame they chose zebra to replace the bongo....I don't even think they are mixed with the giraffe after all, I have seen them let into the giraffe area during evenings when the giraffes are shut in.
Generally, Okapi calves dont defecate for about 60 days (2 months)...at such a young age okapi are very vulnerable to rota/coronavirus. This virus attacks the GI tract and causes diarrhea. The virus is a main cause of death for many okapi calves.
Zebra: The zebra at London were all from Marwell. They were 2 elderly females and their 2 male offspring (gelded).
