Okapi wild diet and feeding behaviour
In order to feed captive okapi appropriately, it is essential to know what they naturally consume in the wild. This information can then applied in a captive setting, to provide and design a suitable and feasible captive diet with the correct level of nutrients.
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Okapi are naturally shy and reclusive animals; this has made studying them in the wild difficult (ZSL 2013b). What studies have been undertaken, indicate that wild okapi consume a wide variety of browse and vine species, preferentially eating young plants and high quality foliage tips found in gaps created in their natural rainforest habitat by single trees falling (Crissey et al. 2001; Hummel et al. 2006c). Wild okapi have NOT been observed consuming fruit (Crissey et al. 2001); despite this, okapi are commonly feed fruit and produce in captivity, with consequent health problems observed (Huisman et al. 2008). For more information, click here. While there is no information currently available on the amount of time wild okapi spend foraging daily, the closely related wild giraffe, Giraffa camelpardalis, spends approximately 60% of its day foraging (Pellew 1984; Ginnett and Demment 1997). In absence of better quality information, it is reasonable to expect that figures for wild okapi would be similar to this.