STAFF at Marwell Zoo are mourning the loss of one of its oldest residents. Kibali, a male okapi, celebrated its 33rd birthday in the summer and was the oldest animal of its type recorded in the world.
Kibali had to be put down following a decline in his health.
Okapi are forest-dwellers and are the only living relatives of the giraffe, sharing some of the same features including very long tongues and short velvety horns.
Kibali was born at Rotterdam Zoo in 1970, and arrived at Winchester's Marwell Zoo in 1995. Staff described him as a very gentle animal, renowned for his voracious appetite.
A zoo spokesman said: "He greatly enjoyed the company of his keepers who will miss him."
Okapis rarely live past 20 years in the wild.
Their natural home is in the dense Ituri rainforest in the central African country of the Congo, though their existence in the wild is coming under increasing threat from loss of habitat.
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