A rare and endangered “forest giraffe” born on Good Friday has been thriving, Dublin Zoo has said.
This is the third calf of its kind – one of the few members of the okapi species – to be born in Ireland.
The yet-to-be-named calf has two siblings in Dublin Zoo, Dalia and Leki, all born to mother Lumara and father Kitabu.
Their names reflect the species’ origins in the dense forests of the northeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where they are listed as endangered due to “habitat loss, hunting, deforestation and civil unrest” in the region, Dublin Zoo said.
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Historically, deforestation in the region was relatively low, with 3,100sq km (1,200sq miles) of forest being lost annually, but from 2015 to 2019 the rate of tree-felling in the DRC doubled, meaning a major loss in vegetation for the species.
The DRC has suffered from political instability for years, with rebel groups often igniting conflicts across the region.
Since her birth, the calf “has been growing steadily and showing all the signs of good health”, zoo officials said.
She has spent her first months in the family’s nest and has been “under the attentive care of her mother”, they said. This is typical for the infant calves of the okapi species, their handlers said.
Zoo goers exploring the African Plains area of the Phoenix Park attraction “may be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of her in the coming days, and see just how much she has grown”, Dublin Zoo team leader Helen Clarke said.
The family’s habitat is near the northeastern African cheetahs and not far from the Asian elephants in Dublin Zoo.
The zoo has supported conservation efforts of the species since 2012 with financial support to rangers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
There are about 15,000 to 50,000 okapi in the world.
