In a few days, it will be five months since we launched on-line video transmissions from the okapi pavilion in the Zoo Dvur Kralove nad Labem, a joint project of Czech Radio and the zoo called "A Young of the Forest". We were waiting for an okapi to be born.
From August 18, 2008, for one long month, expectation and anxiety grew in all of us for the young to be born without trouble and be viable. We were worried despite Etana's trouble-free gestation all the way until the delivery.
Thorough and highly professional care by the keepers as well as support from enthusiasts were rewarded in the morning of Sunday, September 21, 2008, when a beautiful okapi calf was born, a male as it turned out later. His thick velvety fur, large dark eyes, strong legs that shortly after the birth started to frolic - everything about him was gorgeous. Most importantly, he has been prospering very well since the very beginning, eating heartily and putting on weight as appropriate and developing overall as he should.
A naming competition among our audience generated a host of nice suggestions. The little okapi was eventually named Ewango after Congolese natural scientist and enthusiastic protectionist Corneillius Ewango. The name not only sounds nice but reminds us of how volatile and endangered the environment is for okapis and other species that live in the forests of Central Africa and of the dangers faced by those who work there to safeguard the future for the local environment and natural resources. Besides that, we hope that our website has helped draw attention to the deplorable situation in DR Congo, which is the only natural habitat of okapi. Unfortunately, the situation there has not calmed down over the past few months, with outbreaks of the long-lasting civil war in many places across the country that render the future of all its inhabitants highly uncertain.
Our on-line transmissions end on January 15, 2009. The website will remain in place as a witness of this extraordinary event - Ewango is the first ever okapi to be born in the Czech Republic. It also remains as a source of information about these fascinating animals. If the result of the project is that more people today know what okapis look like and where they live, our joint effort was not futile.
However, the video footage from the okapi pavilion was just a minor episode for the zoo in Dvur Kralove. Keepers, zoologists, and other experts carry on with their daily work. Days in the pavilion pass without disruption but each of its inhabitants is facing a different fate. For more details, we asked Ludek Culik, the zoologist for undulates at the Dvur Kralove zoo, who has kept us posted about the latest developments in the pavilion, for which we are extremely grateful.
"If Ewango's relationship with Etana continues to develop as harmoniously as it has been until now, and if nothing extraordinary happens, we expect Etana to wean her son some time this June or July. Then she could be allowed to mate again in August or September, again with Ahadi. The other male, Deto, has been waiting for a decision by the okapi breeding coordinator whether at all and if yes, when he will be transferred elsewhere to procreate. As for little Ewango, there are two possible scenarios: either he will stay in Dvur Kralove and a suitable young mate will be found for him, or he will leave for another destination within two years. We wish he stays and forms a young couple to become part of our okapi breeding effort. Let me thank all users of this website for their enormous interest and loads of messages.""
I am joining in to thank all those who have supported our project, those who watched Etana with worries for long hours at night before the delivery, as well as those who supported the okapis by visiting the zoo or by sending a financial donation. I wish the Dvur Kralove zoo good luck in breeding more of such wonderful animals as Ewango.
Although we will not be able to watch Ewango day and night on-line, we can always visit the zoo in Dvur Kralove and see how he is doing and how the whole group of these beautiful, rare and endangered animals develops. If you cannot arrive for whatever reason, here is a video with Ewango and Etana spending the afternoon in the inner enclosure at the beginning of January. As an additional bonus, the photo gallery is larger than usual.
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