Where are the best okapi exhibits for helping people appreciate okapis?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I was looking at okapi exhibit pictures from various zoos in the galleries and thinking about the okapi exhibits that I have seen (Los Angeles, San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, Omaha, Bronx, Houston, Disney's Animal Kingdom).

A generality that emerges is that most of these exhibits are nicely vegetated, shady "forests" that exhibit okapis in generally the same way.

One thing that I hear over and over and over from okapi newbies that see them for the first time is "oh, it must be a zebra of some kind", which would be a natural assumption based on their legs.

My question is, what exhibits have people experienced that have the best interpretive graphics, talks, or presentation that inform people that okapis are giraffids? Disney's Animal Kingdom has a cool display comparing giraffe and okapi skulls, with actual skull casts that people can touch.

Does anybody have a favorite okapi exhibit? What makes it special from the other okapi exhibits in the world?
 
I just spent some time glancing through okapi photos in the ZooChat gallery, and there is no shortage of decent exhibits for the species. The Disney display is memorable but I'm not sure if there is a photo of it on this site, and there are not really many wonderful interpretative graphics that spring to mind. I think that the okapi habitat at Leipzig Zoo is impressive, and I don't even mind the African-themed huts that are in the enclosure.

Best okapi exhibit (Bronx Zoo):

http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-congo-gorilla-forest-41163/index2.html

Leipzig Zoo:

http://www.zoochat.com/443/okapi-exhibit-leipzig-02-09-11-a-240457/
 
An interesting question. Okapis are my favourite animal - indeed, they were the reason for my first ever (relatively) long distance zoo trip, in 1977, when I was seven, and Bristol was the only place in the UK to see them.

In Europe, I'd say Chester's display is as good as anywhere's: there's some excellent interpretation, really making something of the okapis, and placing them alongside several supporting creatures - appropriate reptiles and rodents; Beauval's paddock is excellent, but I'm not sure it does anything to highlight the species as anything other than a big zebra-like creature. Marwell's seems good from a husbandry point of view, but offers pretty poor viewing; London is fairly dire for viewing; Berlin offers a perfectly nice paddock (shared with duikers) - but it is not really one of the zoo's highlights. Koln is excellent (it is this house on which Marwell's was based, and the paddock here is pleasant and provides good viewing); Leipzig is pretty good too (although, again, it is perhaps overwhelmed by all the spectacular stuff around it). I'm not sure that any of these come close to the Bronx, though. I've been lucky enough to see okapi at Epulu, in the DR Congo (then Zaire), and the Bronx experience came close to that.

My prize for the worst interpretation is for this monstrosity, at Marwell (sadly no longer present!). I think it's supposed to be Harry Johnston, whose story is indeed a fascinating one, but it isn't exactly well executed.Ho hum....
 

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Okapi's are such cool creatures and so much could be done with their display. I am surprised no zoo's have started doing okapi feedings like how they do the ones for giraffes.
 
It is hard to reconcile the way okapis live in the wild with the way they are shown in most zoos.
[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/teresehart/6195034090/"]Okapi in wild, from our radio-collar study | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame][/URL]


[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/teresehart/2946882043/"]okapi back view in the forest 1990 | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]



Often in zoos they appear to be horses that like some shade.:rolleyes:
While in the Congo they are known to push their way into the densest growth and stand motionless and unseen. They can reach lots of leaves (thanks to that great tongue) without stirring much.
This simply can't be replicated in a zoo (for more than 15 minutes, anyway)
There are "tricks" we can use to improve the experience but in the end an okapi will eat its exhibit
 
Zoo Miami, Brookfield Zoo, and San Diego Zoo have been my favorites.

Zoo Miami -Very big and grassy (biggest okapi exhibit I have seen)

Brookfield Zoo -Shaded and Lots of trees (one indoor and two outdoor exhibits)

San Diego Zoo -Elevated and forested
 
sooty mangabey said:
An interesting question. Okapis are my favourite animal - indeed, they were the reason for my first ever (relatively) long distance zoo trip, in 1977, when I was seven, and Bristol was the only place in the UK to see them.

ll the spectacular stuff around it). I'm not sure that any of these come close to the Bronx, though. I've been lucky enough to see okapi at Epulu, in the DR Congo (then Zaire), and the Bronx experience came close to that.

My prize for the worst interpretation is for this monstrosity, at Marwell (sadly no longer present!). I think it's supposed to be Harry Johnston, whose story is indeed a fascinating one, but it isn't exactly well executed.Ho hum....
Click to expand...

Thanks for the rundown on European okapi exhibits Sooty Mangabey. That is cool that you got to go to Epulu. Did you see an actual wild okapi, or were there some captive individuals there? Did you see any Loxodonta cyclotis or bonobos (I think the bonobos live on the other side of DRC from the okapis?)?

I have a giraffe researcher colleague who found the actual pieces of okapi pelt that Harry Johnston used to "discover" the okapi tucked away in a drawer at the Natural History Museum in London. I give Marwell points for trying something interesting even if the execution maybe didn't work out so well.
 
Zooplantman said:
Often in zoos they appear to be horses that like some shade.:rolleyes:
While in the Congo they are known to push their way into the densest growth and stand motionless and unseen. They can reach lots of leaves (thanks to that great tongue) without stirring much.
This simply can't be replicated in a zoo (for more than 15 minutes, anyway)
There are "tricks" we can use to improve the experience but in the end an okapi will eat its exhibit
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing these photos Zooplantman. The Harts work on okapis is legendary. I would love to see an okapi in the wild, but I undertand that you can be out there for very long periods of time and not see them.

AnaheimZoo has some okapi pictures from Congo Gorilla Forest (http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-okapi-covered-foliage-congo-221242/) that look like they use the tricks that you reference and likely invented.
 
DavidBrown said:
Thanks for sharing these photos Zooplantman. The Harts work on okapis is legendary. I would love to see an okapi in the wild, but I undertand that you can be out there for very long periods of time and not see them.

AnaheimZoo has some okapi pictures from Congo Gorilla Forest (http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-okapi-covered-foliage-congo-221242/) that look like they use the tricks that you reference and likely invented.
Click to expand...

Well yes, the landscape at the Bronx was my work and I have to credit John and Teresa Hart for teaching me about okapi (they were WCS researchers at the time). When Congo Gorilla Forest was being planned, designed and built many great field researchers -- like the Harts, Amy Vedder, Mike Fay, and others -- were involved; suggesting ideas, critiquing exhibits, offering guidance
 
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I'm sure I saw a documentary that showed the designers of the Congo Gorilla Forest actually going and spending time in the Congo itself to see what it was really like so they could recreate it effectively (?)
 
Chlidonias said:
I'm sure I saw a documentary that showed the designers of the Congo Gorilla Forest actually going and spending time in the Congo itself to see what it was really like so they could recreate it effectively (?)
Click to expand...

Not as such, no.
The Harts, Amy Vedder, and Mike Fay and other WCS researchers were working there, of course. I can't recall whether they were shown in that documentary (there was only the one that I can think of. If you look carefully, you'll even find me!)
And the head of the Bronx Zoo exhibit design department went on occasion but after the exhibit opened (if I remember correctly). But none of the design team went (more's the pity!)
I suppose the design team could be said to have included perhaps 30-40 people in one capacity or another.
 
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I only saw the documentary once and it was quite a while ago, but I do remember it was very good (but that's about all I remember!). I knew you were involved with the exhibit's design and I'd always imagined you'd been lucky enough to visit the real Congo.
 
DavidBrown said:
AnaheimZoo has some okapi pictures from Congo Gorilla Forest (http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-okapi-covered-foliage-congo-221242/) that look like they use the tricks that you reference and likely invented.
Click to expand...

I imagine that their intention was to recreate an okapi encounter as it would be in the wild: a relatively poor look at the animal through thick foliage. No offense when I say that, because that makes it all the more immersive imo! :D There was a row of large bamboo "poles" on one of the pathways, (somewhere near where this picture was taken-http://www.zoochat.com/547/bronx-zoo-okapi-covered-foliage-congo-221243/) with the exhibit and the okapi just on the other side, so I assume this is what they were trying to simulate, seeing how most pictures of wild okapi are just of their backside deep in the forest.
 
Zooplantman said:
There are "tricks" we can use to improve the experience but in the end an okapi will eat its exhibit
Click to expand...

Zooplantman, I wonder if bamboo as well as mahonia, holm oak, holly and similar plants with leathery spiny leaves can be used for okapis - and other ungulates for that matter?

Antwerp zoo keeps bongo on a small paddock with large bamboo bushes. There are some fallen logs, but they seem to protect the bamboo from trampling, not from eating. Amsterdam zoo has macaques in smallish exhibits with spiny shrubs. So these might be resistant.
 
Jurek7 said:
Zooplantman, I wonder if bamboo as well as mahonia, holm oak, holly and similar plants with leathery spiny leaves can be used for okapis - and other ungulates for that matter?

Antwerp zoo keeps bongo on a small paddock with large bamboo bushes. There are some fallen logs, but they seem to protect the bamboo from trampling, not from eating. Amsterdam zoo has macaques in smallish exhibits with spiny shrubs. So these might be resistant.
Click to expand...

A sensible way to think about it, IMO
Of course the oak and holly might be forbidden by vets.
And the light levels would need to be high enough (so not too shady) for these leaves to attain their leathery character.
Still, the new growth each year would be very palatable and would require some form of protection.
 
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