Wildlife Conservation Global, Inc. operates the Okapi Conservation Project (OCP) which works in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the Institute in Congo for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) and local communities throughout the Okapi Wildlife Reserve – a 13,700-sq-km protected area in the heart of Africa – to ensure the protection of many species in this remarkably diverse equatorial rainforest including the largest populations of forest elephants, okapi and chimpanzees in DRC. Protecting the forest also allows a unique human culture to thrive, as the Reserve is also the home of indigenous Mbuti pygmies who have lived in the Ituri Forest for over 40,000 years. To ensure the survival of the okapi, OCP relies profoundly on zoos around the globe to educate the international public about this unique, forest giraffe and the importance of its role as a symbol of the boundless diversity of life found in the vast rainforests of DR Congo.