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It has the legs of a zebra, the body of a forest antelope, and a tongue long enough to wash its own eyelids. Naturally, its closest living relative is the giraffe.
The Okapi
Deep within the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo lives an animal that appears to have been assembled from leftover parts. The okapi has a dark, velvety body, enormous ears, and brilliant white stripes wrapping around its hindquarters and upper legs. Those stripes invite comparisons to the zebra, but the resemblance is misleading.
The okapi belongs to the giraffe family. Beneath its shorter neck and forest-sized proportions, it shares several features with its towering relative, including a long, dark tongue used to strip leaves from branches. That tongue may reach well over a foot in length and is flexible enough for the okapi to clean its eyes and ears. Neat trick when you lack hands to hold the cotton swabs.
Unlike giraffes roaming open savannas, okapis inhabit dense tropical forest where visibility is limited. Their large ears can rotate independently, helping them detect subtle sounds among dripping leaves and thick vegetation. The striped legs may help young okapis follow their mothers through broken patterns of sunlight and shadow, although the exact functions of the markings remain open to study.
Okapis are famously elusive. Local people had long known of them, but they remained unknown to Western science until the beginning of the twentieth century. Their scientific description in 1901 caused a sensation because large land mammals were not supposed to remain undiscovered in the modern world.
They are primarily solitary and communicate partly through scents and low-frequency sounds. Mothers may produce calls so deep that human ears cannot detect them, allowing them to remain in contact with calves without advertising their location across the forest.
The okapi is not a confused zebra, a miniature giraffe, or an antelope wearing striped socks. It is something far more interesting: a reminder that even among the large mammals of Earth, nature still had room for an animal capable of surprising almost everyone.
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At a Glance
Where do okapis live? In dense rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Are they related to zebras? No. Their closest living relatives are giraffes.
How large are they? Adults may stand roughly five feet tall at the shoulder and weigh several hundred pounds.
What do they eat? Leaves, buds, fruits, ferns, fungi, and other forest vegetation.
Why are their legs striped? The stripes may provide camouflage and help young animals visually follow their mothers.
How long is the tongue? It can extend more than a foot and is used for feeding and grooming.
How long do they live? Estimates in the wild are uncertain, but individuals under human care may live for more than two decades.
Why were they discovered so late by Western science? They are quiet, solitary, and inhabit remote, extremely dense forest.
Coming Tomorrow: The Sailing Stones of Death Valley — rocks that crossed a dry lakebed while no one was watching.
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