Name the new baby okapi that's just arrived in Bristol

Credit: Wild Place Project

Keepers at Wild Place Project are inviting the public to help to choose a name for a new baby okapi.

The calf was born to parents Lodja and Rubani two weeks ago.

She is now one of only 15 okapis in the UK and her birth is a huge success for the species breeding programme in Bristol. There have only been six births in Europe this year and two of these were at Wild Place Project.

WHAT IS AN OKAPI?

Okapi are the only living relative of the giraffe. The species was first encountered by Europeans in 1900 and described by scientists in 1901.

They are native only to the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central Africa where they are threatened by expansion of human settlement and forest degradation.

Credit: Wild Place Project

The baby is now in need of a name and the public can choose their favourite from a choice of three: Kimosi, which means Monday in Congolese, Bili, which means forest and Yiniti, which means tree.

You can vote for your favourite name here.