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Female Okapi Now Calls Denver Zoo Home

DENVER (CBS4)- A female okapi is now calling the Denver Zoo home after moving from the Dallas Zoo.

Almasi is a 2-year-old female who arrived from Dallas in late April. She has completed her quarantine and visitors can see her exploring her new yard just outside the Toyota Elephant Passage.

Almasi was born at the Dallas Zoo in 2013 and came to the Denver Zoo through recommendations of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' (AZA) Species Survival Plan (SSP), which ensures healthy populations and genetic diversity among zoo animals.

Zookeepers hope Almasi will pair with the male okapi, Molimo, for future breeding once she turns three.

Almasi seems to be settling in well and zookeepers describe her as quiet but with signs of playfulness. She joins the zoo's other four okapis, Jabari, Sekele, Kalispell and Molimo.

Additional Information from the Denver Zoo:

Okapis look like a cross between zebras and giraffes. In fact, the species is the only living relative to the giraffe. In addition to long necks, okapis have reddish bodies, black-and-white striped legs and 12-inch, purple, prehensile tongues. Adult okapis weigh between 500 and 700 pounds and stand approximately five feet tall at the shoulder. Females are generally larger than males. The okapi's gestation period is between 14 and 15 months.

Native only to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), survival of the okapi is seriously threatened by unsettled political conditions and rebel military actions in that part of the DRC. Wild population estimates for the species are extremely difficult to determine because the forest is so dense, but experts believe there are between 10,000 and 50,000 individuals. Their numbers are believed to be declining, though, and okapis are classified as "Endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Additional threats come from habitat loss and hunting.

This rare species was only first discovered about 100 years ago. Very little is known about the behavior of the okapi in the wild due to its shy, elusive nature. Much of what is known has been learned in zoos in the past 45 years.

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