Update--Sept. 14 ,2008 Okapi Thread

Okapi--Chester Zoo and Bristol Zoo Click link for other comments

Anonymous said...

According to this book: The Okapi Mysterious Animal Of Congo-Zaire, by Susan Lyndaker Lindsey, Mary Neel Green, and Cynthia L. Bennett, the first European birth of an okapi was at Antwerp Zoo in 1954. One named Ebola was born in Paris on June 6, 1957. I was also reading about pygmy elephants recently. The book I was looking at claims that one died in the Bronx Zoo in 1915, and that the specimen is in the American Museum Of Natural History. (I thought that the existence of pygmy elephants had been disproven.) The book also claims that a German Ambassador filmed pygmy elephants in the wild in 1990. I was also reading about an unusual chimpanzee, which was captured where no chimpanzee had any business being, which was acquired by Chester Zoo I think around 1960. It only lived about two months. A supposed gorilla-like chimpanzee acquired by Basel Zoo in 1967 turned out to be a young female gorilla with a reddish back. Sincerely Paul

January 15, 2011 9:19 AM

Wade - - -

The first okapi born in captivity was in Stanleyville Zoo, Belgian Congo on April 19, 1941. The calf lived four months. The next three were at Antwerp (1) Jan 1953 - -premature fetus; (2) 1954 born but trampled my mother; and (3) 1956 same result. Then came the one in Paris in 1957 which was successful.

The first okapi born here was at Brookfield zoo on September 17, 1959. The sire was a Ringling owned animal that they could not haul around because it was an imported wild born ruminant. It was supposed to be the feature of the 1955 menagerie but the USDA would not let the show take it on the road. So, it went to Brookfield on breeding loan. The show got this first born calf and it was shown at the Garden in 1960 and 1961 - -the only circus okapi. By then RBBB's traveling menagerie was no more.

"Pygmy elephant" was the first popular name given to what we now call the forest elephant. There are still some reports that there is a genuine pygmy smaller than the forest one. The one that died in the Bronx zoo in 1915 was named Congo and arrived at the zoo in 1906. It created quite a stir and was called the pygmy elephant and given the scientific name E. Africana pulilio. That is now disregarded in favor of cyclotis.

The Koolakamba chimp is said to be an unusually large animal, often with facial features approaching the gorilla. There was one on Sells Floto around 1917 named Casey. The jury is still out among the taxonomists as to whether it is a separate sub-species.

Don Cousins of England is the expert on the different forms of chimps.

Hope this helps.

Richard