365pp., illus., maps, paperback, First SA Edition, Wits University Press, Johannesburg, 2025

ISBN: 9781997461180

First Published in the USA in 2025.

A fascinating history of the okapi―an elusive short-necked giraffid with zebra stripes surviving in the rainforests of central Africa's Congo basin - that unpacks the layers of Western science and Indigenous knowledge that shaped the world's understanding of this now endangered animal, as well as the enduring biases that continue to influence conservation efforts today.

"Pooley has written a comprehensive account of the Western 'discovery' of the okapi. His dissection of this conceit is accompanied by an equally impressive account of okapi research during the imperial era. Throughout, he cultivates an intense empathy for an exceptionally beautiful animal - an emblem for one of the most complex communities on earth, and one of the communities most threatened by unbridled logging today." Jonathan Kingdon, author of Origin Africa: Safaris in Deep Time

"Simon Pooley has produced a rich history of one of Africa's most enigmatic and endangered animals. Pooley shows how science, art, economics, and politics made this secretive animal into a powerful symbol both of the global biodiversity crisis and of the perils of colonial conservation efforts intended to stop it." Peter S. Alagona, author of The Accidental Ecosystem: People and Wildlife in American Cities

Simon Pooley grew up in game reserves in northern KwaZulu-Natal. He is currently Lambert Reader in Human-Wildlife Coexistence and Programme Director of the MSc in Environment and Sustainability at Birkbeck, University of London. He is active in wildlife conservation through the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as a member of the Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence Specialist Group, and the Crocodile Specialist Group. Based in London, he is also a visiting researcher at the Zoological Society of London.

DISCOVERING THE OKAPI, Western Science, Indigenous Knowledge, and the Search for a Rainforest Enigma

: Pooley (S.)

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