Experimenting with Okapis

[mikek21]

I like having okapis in my zoos and enjoy building attractive exhibits for them. They are usually not too much trouble and reproduce well enough. However, more often than not, their privacy is usually at the high to critical level. So I decided to try a little experiment to see if I could figure out the best way to improve their privacy.

Okapis do not use any of the animal houses. So no stalls or stables are going to help.

For this experiment I built several okapi exhibits to find what suited them best.

The first exhibit was fairly large and surrounded by low iron bar fencing. I used tropical forest dirt and grass, but no other vegetation. No trees, no bushes, no flowers. Just dirt and grass. The okapis were provided all the necessary food, water and enrichment. And a keeper was assigned to the exhibit. Pretty quickly, their privacy status went to critical.

The next exhibit was the same size, same fencing, all the necessary food and enrichment, and an assigned keeper. But this time I added plenty of tropical vegetation, lots of densely planted trees and bushes. This seems to work a bit better. Their privacy level did not immediately shoot up to critical. So I thought lots of vegetation would be the answer. However over time, their privacy level eventually creeped up. As I monitored this exhibit, the okapis privacy level would vary from mid to high and sometimes critical.

In these first two exhibits, the guest path was right against the fence, so guests could walk right up to the exhibit and the okapis.

The next exhibit was even larger. More space for the okapis. This time I surronded them with solid concrete wall with only two sections of viewing windows for the guests. Each viewing section was three fence pieces long. At first I just used tropical forest dirt and grass. And like the first exhibit, their privacy level quickly went to critical. I then added lots of trees and other plants, and like the second exhibit, thier privacy level varied. Sometimes good, sometime not so good. So in this case, the solid concrete wall, with limited viewing spots for quests, did not seem to make any difference.

I then built and area completely surrounded by solid wood fencing. Guests can not see in, okapis can not see out. Lots of trees, lots of plants, lots of food and water. And still their privacy level varied sometimes good, sometimes critical. So guests being able to see, or not see, the okapis does not seem to make much difference.

One more exhibit. Another large one. Plenty of trees, plants, food, water etc. A lush habitat. Three sides are concrete wall, and fourth side is low iron bar fencing. But this this time I created a hill in the middle of the exhibit. This created an area behind the hill where the okapis could be completely out of of view. A really nice looking exhibit, but still only limited success with their privacy. Sometimes good, sometimes critical.

So after all this experimenting, no conclusive results.

Does anyone have any suggestions for the privacy needs of the okapi??? Or is it jus the way they are?

I usually just a pair of okapis. One male and one female. But I also notice their social is sometimes critical as well.

Any okapi help would be appreciated !!

[mikaboshi]

I usually have One male, and two female okapis to start off with; if the second female complains about not having a mate, then I generally will allow her to satisfy her need to reproduce by adding another male. Also, I usually mix them with Bongos, and they seem to get along smartly.

Even though they don't say that they like any shelters, I usually put that Shade structure in with them anyways. Also, LOT of foliage, of course. Also, having the path one square away from their exhibit, and then have a mostly no-see-through fence except in one section seems to help. I use Okapis alot, but I have to admit, they are usually in a mixed exhibit. Perhaps you could give that a try? Or experiment with one of the shelters that makes sense and just put that in there for looks and see if that helps them out, because with mixed exhibits, of course, there is usually another shelter in there, even if they don't use it.

[Taun]

Okapis are one of may favourite animals to use on the game and i also struggle with privacy but then they don't seem to care.

I find a male to two females work well, with the male mating with both.

I think they may have been programmed like that because of there shy and elusive nature.

[Crookshankz227]

Only use the opaque walls - let the guests view them from elevated paths and sky trams. This almost always works for me.

[Eriorguez]

I shouldn't be posting in a discusion about okapis, because I modded their privacy needs to have them comfortable. I like to have them with giraffes, and a couple of each species runs pretty well. I use not a lot of see-through wall, and the rest is opaque, and I put them in savanna. While it seem weird, that's the way okapies are in most zoos.

[mikek21]

Thanks everyone. I think the key is lots of foliage and limited viewing areas for the quests. And I agree with Taun, I think that they were coded this way because they are a shy animal by nature. The critical privacy status does not seem to have a very negative effect on the okapis or the guests viewing them. So I guess I just have to accept that their privacy status will not always be perfect. Unless of course we use Eriorquez good idea and just mod their privacy needs. Thanks again.  

[african_elephant_2006]

Thanks everyone. I think the key is lots of foliage and limited viewing areas for the quests. And I agree with Taun, I think that they were coded this way because they are a shy animal by nature. The critical privacy status does not seem to have a very negative effect on the okapis or the guests viewing them. So I guess I just have to accept that their privacy status will not always be perfect. Unless of course we use Eriorquez good idea and just mod their privacy needs. Thanks again.  

That makes sense. I shuld try this when it is I will do an okapi exhibit.

[Animalover44]

In my okapi exhibits, I usually have a cliffed hill for them to go behind with food and stuff for them to eat behind it as well.  I also only have a limited guest viewing area.  My okapis never have any privacy trouble, at least in my game they don't.

[mikaboshi]

Yeah, same here Animalover. My okapis never have social or privacy problems.

[starwolfie]

maybe its a glitch?

[mikek21]

I think the privacy thing is not a glitch. In a well designed exhibit, okapis do just fine. Like I said in the first post of this topic ..... okapis are usually no problem, they reproduce well enough and are no trouble to care for.

Other animals can go to their shelters to meet their privacy needs. Okapis do not use a shelter, so they must find a place in their exhibit to satisfy this need. So this is why I think their privacy varies, sometimes good, sometimes not so good, and sometimes critical.

Unless you actually monitor an individual okapi, you will never notice it. You will never get a message about an okapi needing privacy.

[Eriorguez]

Also, okapies have a higher need for privacy value, one of the highest in the game.

[germanwolf]

Thanks for the valuable and helpful information, mikek21! My okapis never seem to have privacy/social problems, they are always happy..but for those people who do have "trouble" okapis, this thread is really useful!

[DragonGod]

What i do is put them in a large exhibit LOTS of foliage and put other species like bongos, mandrills, gorillas, chimps, etc. and then, i lower the exhibit so that the paths around the exhibit are about okapi shoulder level and make sure that only ONE side of the exhibit can be viewed through.

I hope that helps!