Baby okapi to be shown to public at Houston Zoo
Okapi Sylvester and Mayor Sylvester meet. The one-month-old male calf was named after Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. The name Sylvester means ‘forest dweller’ and the okapi is found in its native area of Central Africa. Okapi’s Sylvester has gradually developed a personality. The calves are doing very well and have already doubled their birth weight. Guests can watch Sylvester adjust to his new surroundings daily until noon in the okapi garden next to the bongos.
Sylvester was born on April 20 to his mother, Skali, and his father, Kwame, and spent several weeks bonding with his mother behind the scenes. Her mother’s okapi communicates with her calves via infrasound, which is below the range of human hearing.
Although they are often confused with zebras because of their stripes, the okapi is actually the only relative of the giraffe. The most striking similarity is the large black tongue used to pluck tree buds, leaves and branches. They also use their tongues for grooming, sometimes reaching their eyeballs.
The okapi is an endangered species found in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By recycling mobile phones and other electronic devices, Houston Zoo visitors are helping save Central African wildlife, including the okapi. The tantalum metal, used in these electronic devices, is destructively mined in the rainforests of Central Africa, depriving animals of their habitat. By recycling and reusing electronics, customers reduce the demand for mining new materials.