Rare African okapi born at Chester Zoo
Miloli was born 6 May, but spent the few weeks of his life in a quiet nest area of the zoo.But now CCTV footage of Miloli shows him taking his very first, wobbly steps.Fiona Howe, Lead Keeper at Chester Zoo, said: "The footage we've captured offers a special insight into one of nature's most elusive and secretive species."
Okapi are uniquely patterned animals, but Fiona explains that these patterns have two really useful purposes."Though Miloli appears to be wearing black-and-white striped socks, these patterns play important roles - acting as camouflage and assisting young okapi in following their mothers in the forest," she said."Now that he's developed confidence, Miloli has just started to follow the stripes on his mother's hind legs as she leads him out of the nest to explore together for the first time."Okapi are the national symbol of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and protected under Congolese law.But their numbers are falling in the wild because of habitat loss from mining and poaching for their meat.Chester Zoo say they are working with wider international conservation breeding programmes to help grow okapi numbers.
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