Okapis are elusive forest relatives of the giraffe with very specific habitat and dietary requirements. Providing for their welfare in captivity demands specialist knowledge and naturalistic environments.
Okapis are exceptionally demanding to house well in zoo settings. Their extreme shyness, requirement for dense shade and visual cover, complex dietary needs, and predominantly solitary nature mean that conventional large mammal exhibit design fails them comprehensively. Best-practice facilities provide heavily planted, shaded enclosures with retreat areas inaccessible to the public, varied browse from multiple plant species rather than commercial pellets alone, and social management that respects solitary preferences. Noise and visitor intrusion are significant welfare stressors for this species; exhibit design must account for their sensitivity. The conservation importance of maintaining a genetically managed captive population makes getting welfare right an urgent priority: animals that are chronically stressed breed poorly and fail to achieve the conservation outcomes used to justify their captivity.