New Footage from Camera Traps Spreads Excitement

Just two years ago, OCP launched a camera trap study in select areas around the Epulu station to document wildlife activity. We created a group named ‘Team Okapi’ consisting of ICCN rangers, OCP staff and Mbuti guides to strategically place camera traps just outside areas of human settlement to monitor wildlife, specifically okapi, to determine the abundance and diversity of species in those areas.

Many spectacular images were collected from the camera traps including okapi, red river hogs and many species of monkeys. In late 2017, we set the cameras to collect 15 and 20 second clips to capture a better idea of the movement of these animals in front of the camera, and in February 2018, we collected the first-ever footage of an okapi calf in the wild! This remarkable footage came just a few months after we recorded a pregnant female in the area. Assuming the female gave birth immediately following that documentation, the footage of this calf fits perfectly in with the unique natural history of okapi.  To read and see more, click here.