The document summarizes a study on the readiness of Semuliki National Park in Uganda to receive okapis. It finds that the park previously held okapis until the 1970s and still occasionally sees them. The park has suitable okapi habitat of 210 square kilometers of forest at the right altitude and with key food plants. This habitat could support around 30 female okapis within territories of 4-7 square kilometers each and 12 male okapis within 17 square kilometer territories, for a total capacity of about 42 adult okapis.

1. Sever, Z. 2022. The Readiness of the Semuliki National Park in Uganda to Receive
Okapis. The Zoological Society of Israel, 58th
Conference, Abstracts, p.43, (Origin:
Hebrew).
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The Readiness of the Semuliki National Park in Uganda to Receive Okapis
Zvi Sever & Eli Geffen
School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University
Sever.zvi@gmail.com
With the aim of returning the okapi to the Semuliki National Park in Uganda, we
studied the potential of the reserve to sustain these animals and evaluated the possible
number that could be successfully introduced. We examined three characteristics
pertaining to the reserve’s readiness: history, habitat and available food sources, and
the area’s carrying capacity for the okapi.
Up until the end of the 1970s the reserve had held a permanent population of okapis
and in the present century there are still occasional indications of an okapi entering or
leaving the reserve. The okapi’s habitat requirements are mainly altitude, vegetation
and “windowed” forest canopy: i.e. an altitude of between 500-1,500 m and
vegetation defined as equatorial evergreen forest, including along the river banks,
comprising foliage mainly of 30 species of plants, particularly young photo-
synthesizing plants that emerge when a tree falls (creating a “window” in the canopy).
These areas constitute ca. 5% of the forests inhabited by the okapi. In addition, when
the canopy is not dense and sunlight can penetrate and enable plants and small trees to
develop, the okapis also feed on these. The plant species consumed include the
evergreen Cynometra alexandri as well as deciduous species. The Semuliki NP lies at
an altitude of 670-760 m. The vegetation there is tropical lowland rainforest, moist
and semi-deciduous, belonging to the Cynometra-Celtis family, with 30% of the area
covered by C. alexandri trees. The reserve borders a river along its entire northern

2. Sever, Z. 2022. The Readiness of the Semuliki National Park in Uganda to Receive
Okapis. The Zoological Society of Israel, 58th
Conference, Abstracts, p.43, (Origin:
Hebrew).
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and western borders, and is consequently rich in forested river banks. It is the
extension and meeting point of the two largest rainforests in the eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo: the Ituri and the Virunga forests, both of which host stable
populations of the okapi.
The Semuliki National Park has 210 km2
of vegetation suitable for the requirements
of the okapi. This vegetation is continuous and not in isolated patches. The okapi is a
solitary animal. A male’s territory comprises 10-17 km2
, with some overlap between
territories; and a female’s territory comprises 4-7 km2
, with each female strictly
keeping to its own territory, with no overlap with other females. The males roam
beyond their own territories whereas the females are active only within their own
territories. Accordingly, the carrying capacity of the area for the okapi in the Semuliki
NP (210 km2
) is suitable for ca. 30 adult females (7 km2
/female) and 12 adult males
(17 km2
/male): i.e. the Semuliki National Park can hold ca. 42 adult individuals.