ZSL London Zoo Okapi stereotypical behaviour

Something I have noticed - and been glad about - in recent visits to London Zoo is the apparent lack of stereotypical behaviour in the current collection.

However one thing that has struck me is what seems like obsessive sucking and licking from the okapis, mainly with Elila - especially on one particular branch outside - but also with Mbuti - today he had a cabbage on a rope but was licking and sucking just the rope for a long time.

Is this problematic? i have heard about it as an issue with giraffes in captivity too. Would be good to hear from anyone who is knowledgeable in this field.

(By the way, I often wonder if the current enclosure is best for them, it's a relatively quiet part of the zoo but being so close to the road, I wonder if it bothers them. My personal view would be that the zebras should leave the collection and the okapis should get this area as another yard but I guess that belongs in another thread!)

Thank you

 

I think it's the same with horses, it's called crib biting. Also common in Giraffes, I've never seen it in okapi before though.

 

When I visited last week, I watched an Okapi licking a salt lick for a good... ten minutes or so. It was doing so before I got there, and continued after I left. Another visitor thought it was a piece of metal and that the Okapi was 'sharpening his tongue'.

 

try the personal vision of london zoo thread

 

well, that's "normal". Okapi lick everything where they get minerals and iron from.
For instance the female in Berlin licks the fences and one special wood pale. The one male loves to lick the human hands because of the salts.

A typical stereotype of Okapis and Giraffes are "tongue plays". Poke the tongue out and throw it into the air. Sometimes it looks like licking the whole face and sometimes it looks they are licking sth invisible in the air.
Another stereotype is to throw the head to the back too often.

 

Bar sucking is a problem in London. The gate has been covered in wooden creepers, presumably to deter this behaviour, and now they've started sucking branches.

It's strange, the current zebra yards have grown plant-wise into what could be a fantastic okapi habitat, they could even afford to alternate the adults if Elila was with a calf with two houses and two outdoor paddocks accessible from there.

The zebras, as grazers, have absolutely nothing to do in their yards. The back yard is currently closed off to them and has a good growth of grass in it, so I suppose they are letting it lie fallow before the zebras can graze it down, but it won't last long I'm sure.

I wish they would replace the Okapi exhibit with bongo or duikers, it really doesn't seem to suit them in my opinion. Elila raised two calves in the other exhibit.

 

Were they in the zebra paddock before then?

 

The okapi were always in the left hand side of the giraffe house (as you face it across the enclosure) and originally had access to a small moated strip in front of the house. Some trees were planted in the 1970s, and around 5 years ago the paddock at the back (connected to the cattle house, formerly housing anoas), and the very small moated enclosure at the front of the cattle house were connected up and some of the moat area was filled in. The trees matured and several bushes were planted. Long grass grew in patches and for a while up to 4 okapis were held in this area. The bongos had the current okapi area, and left when 'Into Africa' was opened, at which point 4 chapmans zebra were brought in from possibly Marwell or Whipsnade and were advertised as making a return to the zoo.

 

Thanks, seems as though they got the raw end of the deal.

 

I still feel sure all this behaviour is linked to lack of browsing activity in captivity. I wonder how many hours per day an Okapi browses in the wild? and how much time in captivity is therefore 'empty'- so they have evolved these stereotyped behaviours to 'fill up' browsing time. Sucking bars, hands, etc for minerals is something they can do that does give some reward at least. The others are redirected stereotypes that use their tongue and neck when they should really be pulling in leaves.

 

Thank you for this feedback, it certainly seems that the current okapi set-up at London is less than ideal. I think a network of trellis like bars from which browse could be hung might be a good enrichment mechanism.

 

They do have a good enrichment regime, and are able to browse the lower branches of the trees in the enclosure. It may be a behaviour that they picked up a long time ago.

Depending on the outcome of the next birth, I guess its will wait and see how the new setup works compared to the last one for breeding okapi. The first calf to be born in this enclosure didn't survive long, but this may have nothing to do with external factors.

 

in most species, stereotyped behaviour picked up in the past is very difficult to eradicate later, even with better conditions and enrichment. Maybe they should give them even more browse(the stuff they hang up for them, that is,) still on a daily basis- they must have eaten every leaf within reach on the trees in the enclosure a long time ago.

Loss of last calf-I wouldn't think this had anything to do with the location?

 

Does anyone know where the first okapi was housed? Was it in the old cattle house? I saw some pictures which didn't look like the Giraffe House and I couldn't place it...

Thanks!

 

Noticed today that a large amount of browse and branches have been tied around the branch which was subject to the licking and sucking.

 

Presumably to try and stop them doing it? But they are likely to just find another target instead. Somehow they need to give them more to do in the form of browsing as otherwise this will behavior will just remain.

 

I guess that's the idea. But there has also been a great deal of bar-sucking on the side gate recently. Elila the female's inside stall has a lick which looks like a brick attached to the wall and I've seen that being used quite a lot.

 

There are a lot of interesting comments in this thread and I would generally agree with what has been said. The four zebra came from Marwell and are relatively old; one appears to have died, as I have only seen three for some time (I posted a photo of them some time ago). One comment I would add is that in other threads I have noted some confusion between licking and stereotypical behaviour. I have seen the London Okapi, and those at Marwell (widely accepted as a centre of great experience with the species) licking for long periods of time but not in a stereotypical way. There was no pattern to it; they were enjoying the salt lick and spending a long time at it. This may or may not indicate a lack of other things to do, but rather oddly, given the reputation of the institution, I have seen more stereotypical behaviour at Howletts than any other collection I have visited. It was most noticable with ratel, two of the small cat species and with the lynx. Many years ago, I remember seeing some quite disturbing stereotypical behaviour in the Clore; repeated rapid pacing and head shaking, most notable with, I think, a zorilla and some fennic foxes.
It may be that others have seen stereotypical behaviour in Okapi and Giraffe at London but I thought it was worth making the distinction. Older zoochatters will no doubt be able to remember seeing animals in various collections acting in a seriously disturbed way and whilst, of course, enrichment should be an ongoing and developmental process, it may be that some younger zoochatters are lucky enough not to have seen what would generally be considered stereotypical behaviour.

 

the distinction I would make about the London okapi is that I have often seen her sucking bars and branches, as opposed to licking them.