I meant to do an online search for okapis when I saw it in your Flickr stream but forgot. Okapi! Okapi! I love it! And this: "The secretive nature of okapis..." :D
What an awesome looking animal! I don't think I've ever heard of these until today. Thanks for sharing this unique animal with us. Carletta’s Captures.
January 30, 2010 at 11:42 AM
Anonymous said...
Ohh, so sweet and precious is that little okapi! i want to name him opie and tell him secrets.
awesome photo. ooohhh, he melts my heart!
Happy Saturday, Snappy! XOXOXOXOXO
January 30, 2010 at 11:43 AM
Anonymous said...
PS - forgot to say LOVING COMPLETELY the header! GO RED!!!
Disney's Animal Kingdom park has a few okapi. They do, indeed, look like God had spare parts from zebras and giraffes just lying around and decided to make an okapi out of them!
My sister recently ret'd from a vacation to AZ. While there, she visited the zoo. She took a photo of an okapi and said she thought it was part zebra. I can't wait to tell her what it is! Thanks for stopping by my site. I appreciate making the connection. ~karen
Misty is our wonderful hostess for Camera Critters. Be sure to go and visit.
Today I want to show you the portrait of the animal I fell in love with many years ago on my very first visit to the Houston Zoo- the beautiful and shy Okapi.
The okapi (pronounced oh-COP-ee) is an unusual animal. With its white-and-black striped hindquarters and front legs, it looks like it must be related to zebras! But take a look at an okapi’s head and you’ll notice a resemblance to giraffes.
The okapi is indeed the only living relative of the giraffe. Like giraffes, okapis have very large, upright ears, which catch even slight sounds, helping them to avoid trouble. They also have long, dark prehensile tongues, just like a giraffe’s, to help them strip the buds and young leaves from the understory brush of their rain forest home.
Okapis are hard to find in the wild. Their natural habitat is the Ituri Forest, a dense rain forest in central Africa (northeast region of Democratic Republic of Congo - formerly Zaire). Okapis are very wary, and their highly developed hearing alerts them to run when they hear humans in the distance. In fact, while natives of the Ituri Forest knew of okapis and would occasionally catch one in their pit traps, scientists did not know of the animal until 1900. The secretive nature of okapis and the difficulty most humans have of traveling in their habitat have made okapis hard to observe in the wild. Therefore, researchers can only estimate how many okapis live there. It is believed that there are currently about 25,000 okapis in the wild.
The okapi’s dark purplish or reddish brown fur feels like velvet. It’s also oily, so water slides right off, keeping the okapi dry on rainy days. Only the males have horns, which are covered by skin and are short so they won’t get tangled in forest branches.
The changing politics of central Africa and the continued loss of habitat threaten the beautiful okapi. Fortunately, in 1952, one-fifth of okapi habitat in Africa’s Ituri Forest was set aside as a wildlife reserve. The Okapi Wildlife Reserve, with support from zoos and conservation organizations, and the local people, continues to protect and to support study of this rare and unusual forest dweller.
26 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formI meant to do an online search for okapis when I saw it in your Flickr stream but forgot. Okapi! Okapi! I love it! And this: "The secretive nature of okapis..." :D
Maybe they're related to unicorns.
January 30, 2010 at 9:36 AM
What an incredible animal ... .
Thanks for the introduction
and
for stopping by my blog!
Jjj
January 30, 2010 at 10:02 AM
What a gorgeous animal, so soft looking and refined. Love to see one for real. Thanks for sharing.
January 30, 2010 at 10:16 AM
Beautiful portrait!
Flock of Starlings
January 30, 2010 at 11:13 AM
What an awesome looking animal! I don't think I've ever heard of these until today. Thanks for sharing this unique animal with us.
Carletta’s Captures.
January 30, 2010 at 11:42 AM
Ohh, so sweet and precious is that little okapi! i want to name him opie and tell him secrets.
awesome photo. ooohhh, he melts my heart!
Happy Saturday, Snappy!
XOXOXOXOXO
January 30, 2010 at 11:43 AM
PS - forgot to say
LOVING
COMPLETELY
the header!
GO RED!!!
January 30, 2010 at 11:44 AM
What an interesting animal. I've never seen one before. Thanks for the info!
Chicken'hens
January 30, 2010 at 11:54 AM
Stunning animal. Thank you for sharing it and telling its story.
What we do to the earth and its creatures...
Thank you for visiting My Muskoka !
January 30, 2010 at 12:22 PM
Disney's Animal Kingdom park has a few okapi. They do, indeed, look like God had spare parts from zebras and giraffes just lying around and decided to make an okapi out of them!
Tink *~*~*
January 30, 2010 at 12:31 PM
What a beautiful "critter". Thanks for the great post. :)
January 30, 2010 at 1:24 PM
It is a beautiful animal. Great photo and thanks for sharing the info.
January 30, 2010 at 1:27 PM
My sister recently ret'd from a vacation to AZ. While there, she visited the zoo. She took a photo of an okapi and said she thought it was part zebra. I can't wait to tell her what it is! Thanks for stopping by my site. I appreciate making the connection. ~karen
January 30, 2010 at 1:43 PM
Lovely photo and what a very interesting and beautiful animal the Okapi is. Great facts, enjoyed your post very much, thank you!
January 30, 2010 at 3:50 PM
Such beautiful portrait.Love it.
January 30, 2010 at 5:43 PM
Neat post, Snap.... I have never seen nor heard of an Okapi before. What a pretty face... I enjoyed learning about them. Thanks so much!
Hugs,
Betsy
January 30, 2010 at 5:47 PM
I just keep learning new things when I come here. What a beautiful animal! I never heard of it before.
January 30, 2010 at 6:39 PM
Beautiful animal, I don't think I have seen one in any of my zoo trips.
January 30, 2010 at 7:59 PM
The Okapi IS beautiful! I've never seen one that close before.
January 30, 2010 at 9:41 PM
Great post of a beautiful unique Critter. Okapi, okapi, okapi such a cute name!!
Thanks for stopping by!! Have a great weekend!
January 30, 2010 at 10:46 PM
A informative post and a beautiful photo of a beautiful animal!
January 31, 2010 at 3:26 AM
Now I must look if we have the amazing Okapi at the Denver Zoo. It's sweet face looks so wistful.
January 31, 2010 at 9:18 AM
I have never seen an animal like this..I can see why you enjoyed it...you got a great photo of it....
January 31, 2010 at 11:31 AM
So pretty. And they do look like giraffes. Beautiful picture! I always love your zoo pics.
January 31, 2010 at 11:32 AM
what an awesome and unique animal, so pretty
February 1, 2010 at 12:12 PM
I'm so glad they're being protected!
February 1, 2010 at 7:15 PM