Submitted Photo Roosevelt Park Zoo is preparing habitat for the arrival this fall of an okapi, a rare mammal closely related to a giraffe.

Roosevelt Park Zoo has been approved as a home for an okapi.

Jennifer Kleen, Minot Zoo Crew executive director, said the okapi is most closely related to a giraffe and one of the most recently discovered mammals.

She said an announcement that the Minot zoo will be getting an okapi was made during the recent Bacon & Brew event attended by 619 people.

The okapi is expected to arrive this fall, although no official date has been set, Kleen said.

Native of the Congo in Africa, the okapi is one of the oldest and most distinctive mammals on earth. It has a body like a horse and its legs have stripes similar to zebras.

Currently, Minot Park District maintenance staff are completing the okapi’s habitat east of the aviary and next to the warthogs exhibit. The shade structure in the yard for the okapi is being built now. Grass will be planted and the habitat’s inspection will be completed.

World Okapi Day is Oct. 18. The Minot’s zoo’s new okapi might be here in time for that event.