CC BY 2.0 · Alan Eng from Brussels, Belgium · source
Quick Facts
- Type
- Mammal
- Size
- 1.9–2.5 m body length
- Weight
- 200–350 kg
- Habitat
- Dense tropical rainforest in the Ituri region of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo
- Diet
- Herbivore — leaves, buds, fruit, and fungi from rainforest understory
- Active Time
- Diurnal and crepuscular
- Lifespan
- 20–30 years in the wild, up to 33 years in captivity
Field Notes
- The okapi was completely unknown to Western science until 1901, with rumours of a 'forest donkey' circulating for years before its formal discovery.
- Okapis use their 45 cm prehensile tongue — which is dark bluish-grey — to strip leaves and buds from branches and even clean their own eyes and ears.
- Unlike giraffes, male okapis have small bony horns called ossicones; females have no horns at all.
About the Okapi
The okapi was unknown to Western science until 1901, earning it the nickname 'African unicorn'. It is the only living relative of the giraffe, sharing the same long dark prehensile tongue for stripping leaves — up to 45 cm in length. The striking black-and-white stripes on its legs are thought to help calves follow their mothers through dark forest. Okapis are solitary and secretive, living in the dense Ituri rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are so shy that almost everything known about their behaviour has been learned from camera traps. Classified as endangered.
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