Video: Baby okapi born at Beekse Bergen safari park

Beekse Bergen welcomed a new resident. A baby okapi was born at the safari park in Hilvarenbeek this week. Okapis are threatened with extinction in the wild, and this birth formed part of the okapi conservation program, Beekse Bergen said.

The young okapi, a female, was born on Monday. “She’s a large calf, so it was quite a difficult birth for the mother,” Lars Versteege of Beekse Bergen said. “But it’s going very well. This is now the third calf born to this female, so she knows what to do, and it shows. The first few weeks are always nerve-wracking with a calf, but we are confident that all will be well.”

The okapi is native ot the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo. They look like a cross between a giraffe, a zebra, and an antelope. They are closely related to the giraffe and stand tall with fairly long necks. They also have black and white stripes on their buttocks and legs, reminiscent of a zebra. The rest of their bodies are covered in dark red, brown, or black fur.

Okapi populations are dwindling due to deforestation and people hunting them for their meat and hides.