19-07-2025
Rare African okapi born at Chester Zoo
A rare okapi has been caught taking its first steps on camera at Chester Miloli was born to mum Ada and dad Stomp after a 14-month are an African mammal, endangered in the calf was named Miloli which means 'joy' in Bantu, a group of languages spoken across central Africa.
Miloli was born 6 May, but spent the few weeks of his life in a quiet nest area of the now CCTV footage of Miloli shows him taking his very first, wobbly 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 their numbers are falling in the wild because of habitat loss from mining and poaching for their Zoo say they are working with wider international conservation breeding programmes to help grow okapi numbers.
