Okapi

This article is about the animal. For other uses, see Okapi (disambiguation).

Okapi
At Marwell Wildlife, England
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Giraffidae
Genus:	Okapia Lankester, 1901
Species:	O. johnstoni
Binomial name
Okapia johnstoni (P.L. Sclater, 1901)
Range map

The okapi (Okapia johnstoni; pronounced /oʊˈkɑːpiː/) is a giraffid artiodactyl mammal native to the Ituri Rainforest, located in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Central Africa. Although the okapi bears striped markings reminiscent of the zebra, it is most closely related to the giraffe.

The animal was brought to prominent European attention by speculation of its existence found in popular press reports covering Henry Morton Stanley journey's in 1887. Remains of a carcass were later sent to London by the English adventurer Harry Johnston and became a media event in 1901. Today there are approximately 10,000–20,000 in the wild; 40 different worldwide institutions display them.

Etymology

The generic epithet okapia derives from the Lese Karo name o'api, while the specific epithet (johnstoni) is in recognition of the explorer Sir Harry Johnston, who organized the expedition that first acquired an okapi specimen for science from the Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The name "okapi" is a portmanteau of two Lese words, oka a verb meaning to cut and kpi which is a noun referring to the design made on Efé arrows by wrapping the arrow with bark so as to leave stripes when scorched by fire. The stripes on the legs of the okapi resemble these stripes on the arrow shafts. Lese legend says the okapi decorates itself with these stripes, adding to the okapi's great camouflage.

Characteristics and behaviour

Okapis have reddish dark backs, with striking horizontal white stripes on the front and back legs, making them resemble zebras from a distance. These markings possibly help young follow their mothers through the dense rain forest and may also serve as camouflage.

The body shape is similar to that of the giraffe, except that okapis have much shorter necks. Both species have very long (approximately 35 centimetres), flexible, blue tongues that they use to strip leaves and buds from trees.

An okapi cleaning its muzzle with its tongue.

The tongue of the okapi is also long enough for the animal to wash its eyelids and clean its ears (inside and out). This sticky tongue is pointed and bluish grey in colour like the giraffes'. Male okapis have short, skin-covered horns called ossicones. They have large ears, which help them detect their predator, the leopard.

Okapis are 1.9 to 2.5 metres (6.2 to 8.2 ft) long and stand 1.5 to 2.0 metres (4.9 to 6.6 ft) high at the shoulder. They have a 30 to 42 centimetres (12 to 17 in) long tail. Their weight ranges from 200 to 300 kilograms (440 to 660 lb). Okapis are primarily diurnal, although recent photo captures have challenged this long held assumption. One photograph taken at 02:33 am shows an okapi feeding in the Watalinga forest in the north of the Virunga National Park in eastern DRC, thus providing evidence that they don't only feed during the daytime. Okapis are essentially solitary, coming together only to breed, with the exception of mothers and offspring. Breeding behaviours include sniffing, circling and licking each other.

Okapis forage along fixed, well-trodden paths through the forest. They have overlapping home ranges of several square kilometres and typically occur at densities of about 0.6 animals per square kilometre (about 1.5 animals per square mile). They are not social animals and prefer to live in large, secluded areas. This has led to problems with the okapi population due to the shrinking size of the land they live on. This lack of territory is caused by human land development and other social reasons. However, okapis tolerate each other in the wild and may even feed in small groups for short periods of time.

Okapis have several methods of communicating their territory, including scent glands on each foot that produce a tar-like substance, as well as urine marking. Males are protective of their territory, but allow females to pass through their domain to forage.

Habitat

An okapi at Bristol Zoo cleans itself

Okapis prefer altitudes of 500 to 1,000 m, but may venture above 1,000 m in the eastern montane rainforests. Because there is a considerable amount of rain in these forests, okapis have an oily, velvety coat of fur that repels the water. They develop this coat early in childhood also as a technique of camouflage.

The range of the okapi is limited by high montane forests to the east, swamp forests below 500 m to the west, savannas of the Sahel/Sudan to the north, and open woodlands to the south. Okapis are most common in the Wamba and Epulu areas.

Diet

An okapi reaches for some leaves.

Okapis are herbivores, eating tree leaves and buds, grass, ferns, fruit, and fungi. Many of the plant species fed upon by the okapi are poisonous to humans.

Examination of okapi feces has revealed that the charcoal from trees burnt by lightning is consumed as well. Field observations indicate that the okapi's mineral and salt requirements are filled primarily by a sulfurous, slightly salty, reddish clay found near rivers and streams.

History

The okapi was known to the ancient Egyptians; shortly after its discovery by Europeans, an ancient carved image of the animal was discovered in Egypt. Although the okapi was unknown to the Western world until the 20th century, it was possibly depicted 2,500 years ago on the facade of the Apadana, at Persepolis, as a gift from the Ethiopian procession to the Achaemenid kingdom.

For years, Europeans in Africa had heard of an animal that they came to call the 'African unicorn'. In his travelogue of exploring the Congo, Henry Morton Stanley mentioned a kind of donkey that the natives called the 'Atti', which scholars later identified as the okapi. Explorers may have seen the fleeting view of the striped backside as the animal fled through the bushes, leading to speculation that the okapi was some sort of rainforest zebra.

When the British governor of Uganda, Sir Harry Johnston, discovered some pygmy inhabitants of the Congo being abducted by a German showman for exhibition in Europe, he rescued them and promised to return them to their homes. The grateful pygmies fed Johnston's curiosity about the animal mentioned in Stanley's book. Johnston was puzzled by the okapi tracks the natives showed him; while he had expected to be on the trail of some sort of forest-dwelling horse, the tracks were of some cloven-hoofed beast.

Though Johnston did not see an okapi himself, he did manage to obtain pieces of striped skin and eventually a skull. From this skull, the okapi was correctly classified as a relative of the giraffe; in 1901, the species was formally recognized as Okapia johnstoni.

The okapi is sometimes referred to as an example of a living fossil.

The okapi was adopted as an emblem by the now defunct International Society of Cryptozoology.

In captivity

Okapi at Chester Zoo

As of 2010, there are about 160 specimens in zoos, making okapis in North American and European zoos reasonably common. Immediately following their discovery, zoos around the world attempted to obtain okapis from the wild. These initial attempts were accompanied by a high mortality rate due to the rigors and stress of traveling thousands of miles by boat and by train. In more recent years, shipment by airplane has proven more successful.

The first live specimen in Europe arrived in Antwerp in 1918. The first okapi to arrive in North America was at the Bronx Zoo, via Antwerp, in 1937. The first okapi born in captivity was at Zoo Basel, Switzerland in 1957. In North America, the first okapi was born at the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois in 1959. Brookfield Zoo records 27 okapi births, followed by Zoo Basels 21 births.

The Brookfield Zoo directs the Okapi Species Survival Plan for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). The European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for the okapi is led by the Antwerp Zoo.

Wild status

Although okapis are not classified as endangered, they are threatened by habitat destruction and poaching. The world population is estimated at 10,000–20,000. Conservation work in the Congo includes the continuing study of okapi behaviour and lifestyle, which led to the creation in 1992 of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. The Congo Civil War threatened both the wildlife and the conservation workers in the reserve.

There is an important captive breeding centre at Epulu, at the heart of the reserve, which is managed jointly by the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) and Gillman International Conservation, which in turn receives support from other organisations including UNESCO, the Frankfurt Zoological Society and WildlifeDirect as well as from zoos around the world. The Wildlife Conservation Society is also active in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve.

On June 8, 2006, scientists reported that evidence of surviving okapis in Congo's Virunga National Park had been discovered. This had been the first official okapi sighting in that park since 1959, after nearly half a century. In September 2008, the Wildlife Conservation Society reported that one of their camera traps snapped the first photo ever taken of an okapi in Virunga National Park.

In Popular Culture

The Okapi is the favorite animal of actor / writer / director / tv & radio show host Michael Biggins AKA Blackout. In a VH1 interview on I Love the '90s, Blackout was quoted as saying: "The Okapi remains a currently unknown animal to most people. It is my favorite animal in the world, so much so that I wrote poems about it and pray to it as the master of our universe. Much like the babel fish from Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy, I think I might have created it when I made up this animal called a 'Gizebrahorseraf' in one of my comedy sketches and then suddenly I went to the Busch Gardens ZOO, and the damn thing EXISTED all of a sudden exactly as I had described it up in my comedy sketch! I had NEVER heard or known or knew there was an actual real live animal called an 'Okapi' that was an exact replica of my improvised gizebrahorseraf." Blackout / Biggins is known to open and close his show with the saying, "ALL HAIL THE THRICE GREAT OKAPI!" which is a word play on the Okapi and occult magic.

See also

2 okapis at Chester Zoo, England, 12 November 2010

• Corneille Ewango
• Cryptid
• Bongo (antelope)

External links

• Gilman International Conservation - Okapi Conservation Project
• Okapi Reserve
• Brookfield Zoo - Okapi Species Survival Plan (SSP)
• BBC - Science & Nature - Wildfacts - Okapi

News links

• Rare African okapi seen in wild BBC News 2008-09-11
• Rare giraffe-like animal spotted (BBC News)
• Zoo announces birth of rare, endangered okapi
• First pictures in wild of elusive Okapi
• Wolfram Bell (Nov. 2009): "Okapis - geheimnisvolle Urwaldgiraffen. Entdeckungsgeschichte, Biologie, Haltung und Medizin einer seltenen Tierart." Schüling Verlag Münster, Germany. ISBN 978-3-86523-144-4.