The Official Houston Zoo Blog

Zookeepers have learned not to turn their backs from Kwame, the Okapi, for very long.  That’s a sure way to get a fourteen-inch coarse tongue licking the back of your neck!

Kwame is one of three okapi who reside at the Houston Zoo.  His exhibit offers him many things to do throughout the day.  Some days he finds leaves to pluck or a flavored salt block to taste.  Often, he is content to lick the hair of the duikers who share his exhibit.  Due to a healthy zoo-diet consisting primarily of hay and grain, he does not need to search for the right tree leaves to eat.  Finding food in the forest requires work and keepers try to incorporate that into Kwame’s life at the zoo. 

Manipulating their tongue is a very natural behavior for any okapi.  Like the giraffe, their closest living relative, the okapi will reach their necks out and wrap their long tongue around the higher leaves that other animals cannot reach.  This strategy gives them a distinct advantage and the assurance that food is just a neck stretch away. 

Kwame the Okapi uses his tongue to get treats from a puzzle feeder tube

In order to encourage this natural tongue behavior, the hoofed stock keepers can put out enrichment devices such as this PVC puzzle feeder tube.  A variety of favorite produce items, such as carrots and yams, are placed inside and Kwame must use his lengthy tongue to pull  these treats out from the holes.  Another way this foraging behavior is supported is through the use of “browse.”  Keepers cut off branches from trees and place them high throughout the exhibit so that Kwame can eat the many leaves.  There are lots of options, but Kwame appears to favor hackberry and mulberry leaves the most.

Foraging and puzzle feeders are just a few examples of the variety of enrichment opportunities provided to the hoofed stock residents at the Houston Zoo.  The zoo will be highlighting the many ways enrichment is offered to the animals on our annual Enrichment Day, October 2, 2010!  We hope to see you there!

Written by Tim Junker

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