{"id":225175,"date":"2025-10-19T13:16:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T13:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/225175\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T13:16:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T13:16:06","slug":"hampshire-zoo-celebrates-third-birth-ahead-of-world-okapi-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/225175\/","title":{"rendered":"Hampshire zoo celebrates third birth ahead of World Okapi Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Hampshire zoo has said it is “excited” to welcome the birth of an endangered Okapi calf for the third time in three years.<\/p>\n

Marwell Zoo in in Colden Common near Winchester celebrated the calf’s arrival in September on World Okapi Day on Saturday. <\/p>\n

To allow mother Daphne and her newborn plenty of peace and quiet, the okapi house at the Zoo is temporarily closed.<\/p>\n

But visitors will still be able to see the other okapi in the neighbouring areas. <\/p>\n

Okapi are often referred to as forest giraffes and are known for their striking zebra-like stripes and gentle nature. <\/p>\n

Their tongue can be up to 30 cm long \u2013 allowing them to lick every part of their bodies, including their own eyeballs.<\/p>\n

The species was last assessed in 2015 and is still included on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s<\/a> red list of endangered species. .<\/p>\n

“This amazing achievement is a testament to the skill and dedication of the zoo’s animal care team and their success… helping to support this endangered species,” Marwell keeper Zoe Newnham said. <\/p>\n

“Before the arrival of the new calf, we created a dark, warm, cosy area known as a ‘creep’ to give mum, Daphne, space and privacy with the newborn, just as okapi would in the wild.”<\/p>\n

She said the calf was “already showing signs of being curious and confident”.<\/p>\n

“In the wild, okapi calves spend their first 40 to 60 days hidden away in their creep nesting,” Ms Newnham said.<\/p>\n

“During this time, okapi calves have evolved to not defecate, as any scent may attract predators, keeping them safe in their nesting period.”<\/p>\n

The calf will remain indoors during the colder months, only venturing outdoors when temperatures rise in the spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Hampshire zoo has said it is “excited” to welcome the birth of an endangered Okapi calf for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-225175","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}