Okapi
The okapi (Okapia johnstoni) is an even-toed ungulate mammal from central Africa. With the giraffe they form the family Giraffidae.
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| An okapi at Disney's Animal Kingdom | |
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| Genus: | Okapia Lankester, 1901
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| Okapia johnstoni (P.L. Sclater, 1901)
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Appearance
The okapi has a reddish brown body, a whitish gray face, and white and black stripes on its legs. The okapi has a few features that show its link to giraffes. Its height is not as large as giraffes.
Life
Okapis live in the rainforests of central Africa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
They are mostly active during the day. Okapis eat mostly leaves and buds from trees, but also grass, ferns, fruit, and fungi.
Okapis usually live alone. After 420 to 450 days of pregnancy the mother gives birth to one baby okapi, which drinks milk for up to 6 months. Okapis become mature when they are 4-5 years old. In captivity, okapis can live for 30 years or so.
Other information
The okapi was unknown and a mystery to western researchers for a long time. In the past, scientists thought that the okapi was a mix between the giraffe and the zebra.
The International Society for Cryptozoology uses the okapi as its symbol, because the okapi was unknown for a long time.
Okapi Media
Strips cut from the striped part of the skin of an okapi, sent home by Sir Harry Johnston, were the first evidence of the okapi's existence to reach Europe.
Illustration from an original painting by Sir Harry Johnston, based on preserved skins (1901)
Despite the vast difference in neck length, the okapi (left) and the giraffe (right) both have seven cervical vertebrae (as do all mammals except for manatees and sloths).
Male okapi displaying his striking horizontal stripes
Head of a male okapi with damaged ossicones
The long tongue of the okapi
A female okapi with her calf at White Oak Conservation
1960 Dutch newsreel about okapis in Diergaarde Blijdorp
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Other websites
- Okapi fact sheet at BBC.com Archived 2012-12-05 at Archive.today
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Wikispecies has information on: Okapia. |