Scientists Say: Okapi

Okapi (noun, “Oh-KAH-pee”)

Okapis are mammals that are native to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Central Africa. They are forest dwellers that dine on the leaves, fruits and fungi of the understory — the area of the forest below the tall canopy. Okapis are about the size of a pony. Their brown or red-brown fronts resemble a horse or mule. But their back and legs sport zebra-like stripes. 

Don’t let the stripes fool you, though. The okapi is most closely related to giraffes. This might be surprising not just because the okapi lacks its cousin’s long neck. Giraffes are herd animals, after all, while okapi are loners. But there are similarities: They have the same long ears. They rest their weight on the same number of toes, just two. The males have similar hair-covered horns, called ossicones, on their heads. Okapis even stick out the same super-long tongues (around 45 centimeters, or 18 inches) that giraffes have. Okapis use their long tongues to grab leaves, clean themselves and even lick their own eyeballs.

Okapis have been dwindling in numbers and are currently endangered. That’s because people have been logging and moving into the forests where okapis live. The animals are also sometimes hunted for their meat and skins.

In a sentence

Zebras wear stripes to shoo away flies, but okapi may use their stripes to blend into a sun-dappled forest.

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