10/18/2026
Today is World Okapi Day!
The Sacramento Zoo is home to four okapis; Mo, Forest, Kivuli, and young Moki!
While these tall herbivores may look like a combination of a zebra and a deer, they are actually the closest living relatives to giraffes. In fact, okapi and giraffes share some similar features, such as a prehensile tongue and the ossicones that male okapis have.
Native to the deep rainforests of the Congo in central Africa, these solitary animals use their long tongue to eat hundreds of different species of foliage and fungi.
While we can't hear most of the noises okapi make, it does not mean they are silent animals. Okapi can communicate with each other, most commonly between mothers and calves, through infrasonic sounds that are below the human range of hearing.
As they lead largely solitary lives, okapi rarely interact with other okapi outside of breeding or a mother raising a calf.
Okapi are an elusive species in the wild and were often referred to as the "African unicorn" in the early 20th century due to their rarity. They were not known to the scientific world until 1901, although local tribes were familiar with the species for centuries before this.
Despite their elusiveness, these incredible animals have not eluded the threats facing their dense forest home.
Destruction of the forest for farming, charcoal production, and illegal mining has seriously threatened okapi, as well as the many other animals that call the Congo home, such as gorillas.
Instability in the region due to war has also hindered some conservation efforts.
Their mysterious nature and these intense threats mean that much of what we know about okapi comes from studies of them in human care.
Beyond being incredible ambassadors to the species for guests who may have never heard of okapi, the presence of okapi here at the Sacramento Zoo, and in other AZA institutions, allows important research to take place that can benefit wild populations!
The Sacramento Zoo is also proud to support the Okapi Conservation Project, a grassroots conservation organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that is doing critical work on the ground to help wild okapi. Check out their work at Okapi Conservation Project.
You can support this work just by visiting the Sacramento Zoo! Happy World Okapi Day!
