Discovering the Okapi

This is an online event only. The Zoom link will be sent out a couple of hours before the start of the lecture.

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Discovered for Western science by Sir Harry Johnston in what is now northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 1900, the okapi is a rainforest giraffid which has become a symbol of scientific curiosity, colonial power, and conservation challenges.

In this talk, Simon Pooley will discuss who contributed to Western scientific discovery and knowledge of okapi, including local indigenous people, and who was left out. He will reveal how this sensational new species was described, classified and exhibited, and how it was represented to scientists and the public over time. This includes what has been learned about okapi and how, okapi as diplomatic currency, exporting okapi and the history of okapi in captivity.

Simon’s talk concludes with an account of the current challenges for okapi conservation. Based on his book Discovering the Okapi: Western Science, indigenous knowledge, and the search for a rainforest enigma.

Dr Simon Pooley is Lambert Reader in Human-Wildlife Coexistence at Birkbeck University of London. In addition, he is affiliated with the Zoological Society of London; University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; Coexistence Consortium, India; and the Centre for World Environmental History, University of Sussex. Simon grew up on crocodile research stations in nature reserves in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He leads working groups on coexisting with wild animals for the IUCN Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence, and Crocodile, Specialist Groups. Simon has been interested in okapi since childhood, and during a period of recuperation after dengue fever extending into the COVID-19 lockdowns, and following visits to London Zoo, he started work on his book Discovering the Okapi as a recovery project.

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