Okapis have few vocalizations, but will chuff, moan, and bleat as important social interactions in bonding, courting, and times of distress.
Vocal communication is important in okapi social interactions including mother-offspring bonding and distress calls, as well as courtship behavior.
Okapis have few vocalizations, but have more than the giraffe. Their vocalizations consist of three types of vocal signals, the chuff, the moan, and the bleat. These vocalizations have infrasonic frequency components.
Chuffs are contact calls for all ages and both sexes. Bleats are only emitted by young animals less than seven months old in stressful situations, as a distress call, in order to get a response from the mother. Okapi also use whistles and bellows when in acute distress situations. Lastly, soft moaning sounds are made by males during courtship.
Sources: (Bodmer & Rabb, 1992; Lindsey, Green, & Bennett, 1999; Palkovacs, 2000; San Diego Global Zoo, 2017)
Image: Tambako the Jaguar
