The San Diego Zoo celebrated the birth of an okapi calf last week, zoo officials announced Tuesday.
The calf was welcomed to the world on Sept. 2, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. She’s not only the first okapi calf born at the zoo since 2021, but she’s also the first of her kind to be born in the habitat, which was made possible by the warm weather.
“Okapi calves do not thermoregulate well, so previous calves born at the Zoo in the winter remained in behind-the-scenes areas until they were a few months old,” the SDZWA said in a news release.
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
A recently born okapi calf next to a fully-grown okapi at the San Diego Zoo.
This means guests have the chance to get an earlier-than-expected glimpse of the calf interacting with her mother, Subira, and first-time father, Kapu, at the San Diego Zoo’s Lost Forest.
Okapis — known as the “forest giraffe” and for their zebra-like striped hindquarters and legs — are native to Central Africa and are considered endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
The zoo says the calf’s birth supports the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan Program, which aims to help conserve endangered species.