2024-04-15 12:43:05
(ANSA) – FALCONARA MARITTIMA, APRIL 15 – An okapi, a species at risk of extinction, was born at the Falconara Marittima zoo park (Ancona), the only structure in Italy to host this rare mammal. This is the second specimen born in Italy, two years after his brother “Italo”. The baby okapi is cuddled and cared for by its mother in the nest, where it will remain for about two months. Visitors will therefore have to wait even longer before being able to see him running and playing in the external space of the department. At the moment it is not known whether the second child of mother Elani and father Dayo is a boy or a girl, once the sex has been established the name will be chosen.
Long neck, tapered head, dark brown body with white stripes on the legs and hindquarters: the okapi, native to the Democratic Republic of Congo, is also known as the forest giraffe. The Marche zoo is the only one in Italy to host these rare mammals with the aim of preserving the species at risk of extinction (it is on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature). The structure supports the Okapi Conservation Project and participates in the Eep, the European program for the ex situ reproduction of threatened species. For this reason, Italo, now grown up, will soon be transferred to the Tierpark in Berlin. Three eastern gray kangaroos (ANSA) had also previously arrived at the facility.
2024-04-15 12:43:05