The Okapi Belongs to What Family of Animals?

Okapi
Information
Range	Primal Africa
Scientific Classification
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Mammalia
Society	Artiodactyla
Family unit	Giraffidae
Genus	Okapia
Species	Okapia johnstoni
Conservation Condition
Endangered

The Okapi (Okapia Johnstoni), also known as the forest giraffe , Congolese giraffe , or zebra giraffe , is a species from the Okapia genus. The word "okapi" comes from Mvuba okapi. It can be found in the Democratic Republic of the congo in Central Africa. It is pronounced "oh-cop-ee".

Contents

• ane Appearance
• two Behavior
  • 2.one Diet
  • 2.2 Lifespan
  • ii.3 Predators
• 3 Distribution
• four Discovery
• 5 Captivity
• 6 Conservation
• 7 Gallery
  • seven.one Videos
• 8 Facts

Appearance

They are a bears a resemblance between zebras and giraffes, but are closely more related to giraffes. Okapis have velvet backs with horizontal white stripes on the front and back legs and on portions of their posterior. These stripe'due south purpose could be for camouflage in the dense forest. Considering of their wet environment, they have oily fur that repels water. Their trunk shape is practically the same as a giraffe's but, of class they have much shorter necks, but still long compared to a zebra. At the cease of their necks, is a equus caballus-like white head. They besides have long legs and a bold body like their relatives. Okapi's too accept 35 cm long, prehensile, royal tongues like their counterparts. Their tongues are long enough for them to make clean their eyelids and ears. Male okapis also have ossicones like giraffes. Their ears are very large and so they can detect their predators. Okapis are usually 6.ii to 8.two ft long including their tail. Their tail measures xxx to 42 cm in length. Okapis stand up at a 4.9 to vi.6 ft high, however much smaller than the giraffes. They weigh 440 to 770 lbs.

Behavior

Okapis were said to be diurnal, but recent photographs describe them at night. One photo was taken at 2:00 in the morning feasting on leaves, which may evidence that they feed at night. They are solitary simply coming together to mate. Mating behaviors include licking ane another, circumvoluted each other, and sniffing one another. Their gestation menses is typically xiv-fifteen months. When the fourth dimension comes, they nascency one young usually. Strangely, the newborn volition suckle several other females. Either fashion, the mother defends information technology's dogie to the death. Okapis will warn the predator by stamping their front end legs vigorously confronting the ground.

Okapis like to dwell in secluded, large, unpopulated areas, which sadly, has fabricated their risk of survival less possible as human population expands. An okapi'south territory may be several foursquare kilometers large. They marking their territory past urinating, or past releasing a tar-like substance from the scent glands on their anxiety. Okapis take various sounds including whistles, coughs, and bleats, somewhat similar to a Zebra's.

Nutrition

Okapis are herbivores, using their tongues to reach high upwards to leaves and other leafage. Their normal diet is fruits, grasses, fungi, buds, ferns, and many plants that are poisonous to humans, simply not to okapis. Some strange things that it has been known to swallow are charcoal from burnt trees, and even sulfurous reddish clay found by rivers and streams. No ane still knows why they eat those.

Lifespan

An okapi'southward lifespan is typically over thirty years long.

Predators

The main predators of the okapi is the leopard, and people. People illegally poach these creatures.

Distribution

Okapi'south dwell straight in the heart of Africa in the dense rainforests. They are native to the Ituri rainforest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are near commonly found in the Wamba and Epulu areas. They adopt altitudes at 500 to 1,000 k in the montane rainforests. They have also been known to live in swamps, savannas, and woodlands.

Discovery

Okapi in aboriginal Egypt.

The okapi was depicted in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs equally a foreign horse-like fauna. This also suggests this fauna had a much greater range.

For decades, Europeans visiting Africa heard stories of a animal chosen by the locals, "atti". The Europeans donned information technology the African unicorn. Explorers saw only the striped backsides fleeing from their presence, leading them to believe it was a rainforest-habitation Zebra.

The British governor of Uganda, Sir Harry Johnston, discovered some pygmies of the Congo were beingness abducted by a showman for exhibition. He succeeded at rescuing them and bringing them dorsum to their homes. As a advantage, the pygmies fed him with knowledge of the atti and even showed him some puzzling tracks of the equus caballus-like Cryptid. Johnston did not see a living okapi but did obtain the striped hide, and a skull of the fauna. He brought the skull elsewhere to exist examined. In 1901, it was classified as a new species, a relative of the giraffe, Okapia Johnstoni.

Captivity

As of 2011, 155 okapis were exhibited in zoos on 4 unlike continents. Nearly of them in America, 60 in Europe, 7 in Japan, and two in South Africa. Immediately after this creature'due south discovery, it was tried to be established in zoos worldwide. The commencement specimen was officially exhibited in 1918 in Antwerp, Europe. The 2d specimen arrived in the Bronx zoo in 1937. The first okapi born in captivity occurred in 1953 in Antwerp, the 2nd occurred in 1959 at the Brookfield zoo. The following is a listing of all the births since the discovery at zoos worldwide, taken from Wikipedia.

Zoos	Number of births
White Oak Conservation	51
Antwerp Zoo	47
Diergaade Blijdorp	43
International Rhino Foundation	39
San Diego Zoo Safari Park	38
Bristol Zoo	37
Dallas Zoo	34
Lincoln Park Zoo	30
Brookfield Zoo	27
Zoo Basel	26
San Diego Zoo	23
Wilhelma Stuttgart	12
Zoo Berlin	4
Zoo Miami	2
Chester Zoo	ane
Lowry Park Zoo	1

Conservation

Okapis are classified as an Endangered species since 2013. Their main victims are habitat loss and poaching. The Congo ceremonious state of war also had information technology'south toll on this mammal. The estimated population worldwide is between x,000-35,000. Conservation work was started in the Congo since 1992 to examine the behavior of this unique animal. An important breeding eye at the heart of Epulu has helped bring the population back. Since 1959, no okapi has been seen in the Virunga National Park. In June of 2006, scientists reported evidence of okapis still living there to this date. In 2008, the Wildlife Conservation Club reported that one of their cameras snapped the get-go photo ever taken of a wild okapi.

Gallery

Videos

Okapi, Okapi Biological reserve, Congo

Newborn Infant Okapi - Cincinnati Zoo

Okapi

Male person okapi at the zoo

Okapi Calf at the Bronx Zoo-0

Facts

• Females are taller than the males.
• The okapi is a wood-dwelling relative of the giraffe.
• The okapi'southward fur has a frail olfactory property.
• Before it's discovery, pygmies thought the okapi was a species of horse or donkey.
• Okapis rub their necks on tree trunks.
• Their territory ranges exercise overlap.
• Mothers use infrasonic communication to talk to their calves.
• Their hearing is below the range of human hearing.
• It is believed to be extinct in Uganda.

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Source: https://animals.fandom.com/wiki/Okapi

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