Interesting facts about okapi. Okapi animal (lat. Okapia johnstoni) Okapi message

Okapi is a unique animal that lives in the Republic of Congo (Africa). By appearance it resembles a baby zebra and a giraffe, which is why it is informally called the “zebra giraffe.” At first glance, the animal can also be mistaken for unusual looking a horse, if not for the shape of the head and the stripes on the legs. What is this amazing artiodactyl? We offer a couple of interesting facts about okapi.

Origin

1. In fact, this animal is also called the dwarf forest giraffe. Okapi is related to the giraffe and belongs to the giraffidae family.
2. The rest of the world only discovered the okapi in the 20th century. Before this, only the population of the Congo knew that such a “strange horse” existed.
3. The habitat of the forest giraffe is the Republic of Congo. It lives nowhere else except the Congo River basin.

Appearance

1. One of the most amazing features of this animal is its amazingly long bluish tongue. Its tongue is as much as 35.5 centimeters long and is designed to care for the ears and eyes, as well as to get leaves from trees.
2. Okapi has a varied and very original coloration. The legs and rump of the animal are covered with black and white stripes, the muzzle is dark, and the body is colored red-brown.
3. The forest giraffe is an order of magnitude smaller in size than its relative. The height at the withers is about 160 centimeters, the length from head to tail is 2 meters. However, okapi weigh quite a lot for their small size - up to 250 kilograms.

Lifestyle

1. "Zebra giraffe" is a herbivore. The okapi's diet consists of various kinds of leaves, ferns and herbs, and the animal also likes to eat mushrooms and fruits.
2. These animals have a very timid character and are active mainly during the day. They also almost never gather in herds, but live alone. The exception is couples during the mating season and cubs that remain with their mother for several years.
3. The okapi's most sworn enemy is the leopard. Apart from him, in the wild the forest giraffe has practically no enemies, since the animal is of decent size and perfectly protects itself.

Sometimes nature really creates amazing creatures, and this is one of them. Who would have thought that for many centuries “Atti” (as the locals called him) was hiding from the eyes of the whole world. Unfortunately, the discovery also has negative sides: due to human cruelty, the forest giraffe is currently included in the list of animals that are under threat of destruction.

Description of okapi

Okapia johnstoni - Johnston's okapi, or simply okapi, is the only artiodactyl of the genus Okapia of the same name, which is part of the giraffe family. However, the most noticeable similarities are observed not so much with giraffes, but with their ancestors, as well as with zebras (in terms of color) and horses (in terms of physique).

Appearance

Okapi is bizarrely beautiful - the velvety reddish-chocolate fur on the head, sides and rump suddenly gives way on the legs to a white tone with uneven black stripes that copy. The tail is moderate (30–40 cm), ending in a tassel. Most of all, okapi resembles an exotically colored horse, which has acquired small horns (ossicones) with keratinized tips that are replaced annually.

This is a large artiodactyl, almost 2 m long, weighing up to 2.5 centners in adulthood with a height at the withers of 1.5–1.72 m. The top of the head and ears repeat the chocolate background of the body, but the muzzle (from the base of the ears to the neck) painted white, with large dark eyes contrasting with it. Okapi's ears are wide, tubular and extremely mobile, the neck is much shorter and equal to 2/3 of the length of the body.

This is interesting! Okapi has a long and thin, almost 40-centimeter bluish tongue, with which the animal washes itself, calmly licking its eyes and reaching its ears without strain.

The upper lip is separated in the center by a small vertical strip of bare skin. The okapi does not have a gallbladder, but has cheek pouches on either side oral cavity where you can store food.

Lifestyle, behavior

Okapi, unlike gregarious giraffes, prefer to exist alone and quite rarely gather in groups (usually this happens when searching for food). The personal territories of males overlap one another and do not have clear boundaries (unlike the territories of females), but they are always larger in area and reach 2.5–5 km2. Animals graze mostly during the day, silently making their way through the thickets, but sometimes they allow themselves twilight forays. They rest at night without losing their inherent vigilance: it is not surprising that okapi’s senses are best developed by hearing and smell.

This is interesting! Johnston's okapi does not have vocal cords, so sounds are produced by exhaling air. Animals communicate with each other by quiet whistling, mooing or softly coughing.

Okapi are meticulously neat and love to lick their beautiful skin for a long time, which does not prevent them from marking their own territory with urine. True, such scent marks are left only males, and females inform about their presence by rubbing their necks with scent glands on the trunks. Males also rub their necks against trees.

When kept collectively, for example in a zoo, okapi begin to observe a clear hierarchy, and in the struggle for dominance they harshly hit their opponents with their heads and hooves. When leadership is achieved, dominant animals even visually try to outdo their subordinates by straightening their necks and raising their heads high. Low-ranking okapi often place their head/neck directly on the ground when expressing respect to their leaders.

How long does an okapi live?

Okapi are thought to live up to 15–25 years in the wild, but live much longer in zoological parks, often exceeding the 30-year mark.

Sexual dimorphism

Males are usually distinguished from females by their ossicones.. The bony outgrowths of the male, 10–12 cm long, are located on the frontal bones and are directed backward and obliquely. The apices of ossicones are often bare or end in small horny sheaths. Most females do not have horns, and if they do grow, they are smaller in size than males and are always completely covered with skin. Another difference concerns body coloring - mature females are darker than males.

History of the discovery of okapi

The discoverer of the okapi was the famous British traveler and explorer of Africa Henry Morton Stanley, who reached the virgin lands in 1890. tropical forests Congo. It was there that he met the pygmies, who were not surprised by the European horses, saying that almost the same animals roamed the local forests. A little later, the information about the “forest horses” contained in one of Stanley’s reports was decided to be checked by a second Englishman, Governor Johnston of Uganda.

A suitable opportunity presented itself in 1899, when the appearance of the “forest horse” (okapi) was described in detail to the governor by pygmies and a missionary named Lloyd. Evidence began to arrive one after another: soon Belgian hunters presented Johnston with 2 fragments of okapi skin, which he sent to the Royal Zoological Society (London).

And only a year later, when two skulls and a complete skin arrived in London, it became clear that they were far from equine, but similar to the remains of extinct ancestors. The unknown animal had to be urgently renamed, borrowing its original name “okapi” from the pygmies.

Range, habitats

Okapi is found exclusively in the area Democratic Republic Congo (formerly Zaire), although not so long ago these artiodactyls could be found in the western part of Uganda.

Most of the population is concentrated in the northeast of the Republic of the Congo, where there are many inaccessible tropical forests. Okapi prefer to live close to river valleys and clearings, no higher than 0.5–1 km above sea level, where green vegetation is abundant.

Okapi diet

In tropical rain forests, more often in their lower tiers, okapi search for shoots/leaves of euphorbia trees and shrubs, as well as various fruits, periodically going out to graze on grassy lawns. In total, okapi's food supply includes over 100 species from 13 plant families, most of which enter its diet occasionally.

And only 30 types of plant food are eaten by animals with enviable regularity. The okapi's constant diet consists of both edible and poisonous (albeit to humans) plants:

• green leaves;
• buds and shoots;
• ferns;
• grass;
• fruits;
• mushrooms.

This is interesting! The highest proportion of the daily diet comes from leaves. Okapi plucks them with a sliding movement, having previously grasped the bush shoots with his mobile 40-centimeter tongue.

Analysis of wild okapi droppings showed that the animals eat large quantities of charcoal, as well as the saltpeter-rich brackish clay that covers the banks of local streams and rivers. Biologists have suggested that in this way okapi compensate for the deficiency of mineral salts in their body.

Reproduction and offspring

Okapi begin mating in May–June or November–December. At this time, animals change their habit of existing alone and come together to procreate. However, after copulation, the couple breaks up, and all the worries about the offspring fall on the mother’s shoulders. The female carries the fetus for 440 days, and shortly before giving birth, she goes into the wilderness.

Okapi bring one large (from 14 to 30 kg) and completely independent cub, which after 20 minutes already finds milk in the mother’s breast, and after half an hour is able to follow the mother. After birth, the newborn usually lies quietly in a shelter (created by the female a couple of days after birth) while she forages for food. The mother finds the baby by sounds similar to those made by adult okapi - coughing, a barely audible whistle or a low moo.

This is interesting! Thanks to the clever structure of the digestive tract, all mother's milk is absorbed to the last gram, and the little okapi does not have feces (with the smell emanating from it), which largely saves it from land-based predators.

Mother's milk remains in the baby's diet almost until the age of one: for the first six months the baby drinks it constantly, and for the second six months - periodically, from time to time applying to the nipples. Even after switching to independent feeding, the grown cub experiences a strong attachment to its mother and stays close.

However, this connection is strong on both sides - the mother rushes to protect her child, regardless of the degree of danger. Strong hooves are used and strong legs, with which she fights off attacking predators. Full formation of the body in young animals ends no earlier than 3 years of age, although reproductive abilities open much earlier - in females at 1 year 7 months, and in males at 2 years 2 months.

Traveling through Central Africa, journalist and African explorer Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) more than once encountered local aborigines. Having once met an expedition equipped with horses, the natives of the Congo told the famous traveler that they had wild animals, very similar to his horses. The Englishman, who had seen a lot, was somewhat puzzled by this fact.

flickr/Roland & Sonja

After some negotiations, in 1900 the British were finally able to acquire parts of the skin. mysterious beast from the local population and sent them to the Royal Zoological Society in London, where the unknown animal was given the name "Johnston's Horse" ( Equus johnstoni), that is, they assigned it to the equine family. But imagine their surprise when a year later they managed to get a whole skin and two skulls of an unknown animal, and discovered that It looked more like dwarf giraffe times ice age. Only in 1909 was it possible to catch a living specimen of Okapi ( Okapia johnstoni).

It was an okapi - a rare artiodactyl animal from the family. Okapi are indeed, at first glance, very similar to horses. But the legs and neck are somewhat elongated. On the hind legs and rump there are bizarre black and white stripes, like a zebra, which makes the animal unusually amazing.

Okapi have short, velvety, chocolate-colored fur with a reddish tint. Limbs white, and the tail reaches 40 cm. At the withers, okapi is about 160 cm, and the length from head to tail is 2 meters. As is usual in nature, females are slightly larger than males. The okapi's white and brown head with large ears is full of charm. The narrow muzzle and large black moist eyes evoke tender feelings for the animal.

Many naturalists dream of seeing okapi. Since the Congo is the only place on Earth where okapi live, and their capture for zoos is impossible due to their great sensitivity to changes in environment, the dream of nature lovers remains unattainable. Only 20 nurseries in the world can boast of having such a rare animal.

The okapi has a very timid temperament. Although they lead a diurnal lifestyle, they still try to wander deeper into the jungle. Like giraffes, okapi feed on tree leaves. The diet also contains various herbs, mushrooms, ferns and fruits. The okapi's tongue is very long and dexterous. It is so long that okapi can easily wash his eyes with it.

Okapi is also called the “forest giraffe”. Apparently, due to the availability of food in the jungle, okapi did not evolutionarily need a long neck, like the steppe giraffe, which in the steppe has to reach high for foliage.

Unlike their giraffe relatives, okapi are solitary. Only during the mating season do they form pairs. Very rarely they can be found in small groups, but the reason for this has not yet been studied.

flickr/whiskeyboytx

Okapi cubs are gestated for 450 days (about 15 months). The baby hides in the jungle for a long time, responding only to his mother’s voice. And the okapi's voice is quiet. Due to the lack of vocal cords, the sounds pronounced by okapi are more like mooing with a slight whistle.

It is not yet possible to fully study the life and habits of okapi. Due to unsettled political power in Congo with permanent civil wars, and also because of the timidity and secretiveness of animals, little is known about their life in freedom. Deforestation undoubtedly affects population numbers. According to the most rough estimates, there are only 10-20 thousand okapi individuals. There are 45 of them in zoos around the world.

The okapi animal is the only representative of its kind from the Giraffidae family, which belongs to the Artiodactyla order.

The external characteristics of the wild animal are somewhat reminiscent of a horse and, moreover, there are characteristic white stripes on its legs that can confuse you and make you think that it is a zebra.

We hasten to assure you that this is not so, and in this article, we will lift the veil of secrets and tell you the whole truth about these very shy and secretive animals.

Body length adult reaches 2.5 meters, height at the withers is from 152 to 173 cm. The average tail is 35-45 cm, weight reaches up to 255 kg. The eyes are pronounced, the ears are large and long. The beast's tongue is so long that it can lick its eyes with it.

The animal has two small horns on its head, but only the male has them; the female does not have them. Noteworthy: the female is several centimeters taller than the male.

The color of the mammal's coat is chocolate-colored, the coat is smooth and velvety, and may shimmer into a scarlet hue. The legs are long, of course not as long as those, but much stronger and more powerful. They have whitish or dark tones, the muzzle is black and white. The neck is long and endowed with powerful and elastic muscles.

The okapi animal lives in central Africa in the Republic of Congo. Preferred places for living and breeding are tropical dense forests in the northern and eastern parts of the country. These places have the status of nature reserves, such as:

• Virunga;
• Salonga;
• Maiko;

Many lovers of these exotics are interested in total animals living in this territory. Nobody has official data, since this species leads a secretive lifestyle. According to unofficial data, there are from 40 to 55 thousand of them, and in zoos different countries there are no more than 162 of them.

It’s sad, but we have to admit that every year their numbers are steadily declining due to constant deforestation, thereby forcing the population to look for new places to live. The fact is that okapi has a very difficult time adapting to territories unfamiliar to it, and often simply dies. The body of this animal species is stress-resistant, which also has a detrimental effect on their numbers.

The diet of the mountain giraffe, also called okapi, is no different from its brother, the common giraffe. It actively eats the deciduous part of woody plants.

The beast grabs a young shoot with its long and powerful tongue, sliding it a little towards itself and tearing off the entire leafy part. But that's not all the food he can eat. Here are some other types of food he often eats:

• Mushrooms;
• Fruits;
• Ferns;

However, our hero is very picky about food. Scientists have recorded that out of 14 plant families, he pays supreme attention to only 29 types of herbs.

Charcoal and clay were found in the animal's feces, which it eats off the coast. forest rivers. Apparently, okapi replenishes mineral deficiencies in the body.

Eat at daytime and carry out all their life activity during the daytime. After dusk falls, they remain for the night in the same place. They mostly lead a solitary lifestyle, but they can form small groups. What makes them do this is not known for certain.

Period mating season falls from May to the end of July. The animal gives birth to okapi offspring during the rainy season from August to October; until this time, the female carries the baby in her womb for more than 450 days.

When it comes important point, the female tries to go to the most thorny places to give birth in complete privacy. The baby is left alone for some time. When she returns to give the baby her fatty milk, she makes special sounds to which the little okapi responds; the baby’s sound often resembles a cough.

At first, the mother protects her offspring; there were situations where she even attacked people in order to protect her offspring.

In the wild, the animal lives no more than 30 years. IN special conditions maintenance and feeding, it can live up to 40 years.

More big photo with okapi in good resolution you can.

P.S.

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The okapi is an African animal that is also called the forest giraffe. It lives only in Zaire in rugged rain forests. Its main food is leaves of low-tea plants and various fruits.

In fact, okapi is not a small animal at all; its length can reach 2 meters, and you can weigh up to 250 kg. Although the okapi is related to the giraffe, it does not have such long neck. It is of moderate length.

Okapi has a very unusual coloring. Named reddish-brown body, this animal has limbs colored almost like a zebra.

In total, we have a shape similar to a giraffe, limbs like a zebra and a red-brown body. This is a mixture of a giraffe, a zebra and, possibly, a horse :)

Male okapi also have small horns, another similarity between okapi and giraffes. As well as a black and blue tongue, very similar to the tongue of a giraffe.

Thanks to the okapi's stealth for a long time remained unknown to researchers from Europe. Only at the beginning of the 20th century the first representatives of this species appeared in European zoos.

Europeans first learned about okapi in 1890, it was in this year that traveler G. Stanley reached the primeval forests of the Congo River basin. The local pygmies were not surprised to see the European's horses, although they saw these animals for the first time. Everything should have been the other way around, for African pygmies the horse must have been a shock. But they said that similar animals live in their forests.

The animals first received the name “forest horse”, then they began to call it okapi, as the locals call it.

And then the story of the discovery of okapi belongs to the Englishman Johnston, who worked as the governor of Uganda. He was even luckier; the Belgians gave him two pieces of skin from a then unknown okapi. The Royal Zoological Society in London carefully examined the samples and came to the conclusion that these skins do not belong to any species of zebra.

In 1900, the first description of okapi appeared in scientific publications. It was published by zoologist Sclater, and the animal was called "Johnston's horse."

In 1901, a whole skin and two okapi skulls arrived in London, and after studying them, scientists came to the conclusion that the animal’s skull did not look like a horse’s, so the animal, new at that time, belonged to a new genus.

The secrecy of the okapi made it inaccessible for a long time. Requests from zoos in European cities remained unanswered for a long time.

The Antwerp Zoo received a young okapi only in 1919, but he did not live long in captivity, only 50 days. Subsequently, there were more than one attempt to keep okapi in captivity, and all of them ended in the death of the animals.

And only in 1928, a new inhabitant of this very zoo, a female named Tele, took root in captivity and lived until 1943. During World War II she died of starvation.

Even after the war, the Antwerp Zoo paid a lot of attention to okapi, and in 1954 the first okapi cub was born there. But he did not live long. The first successful breeding of okapi in captivity occurred in 1956 in Paris.

Today in the Republic of Congo there is a station for capturing wild okapi, which are supplied to zoos around the world.

In conditions wildlife Okapi are very secretive, so few Europeans have observed this animal in natural conditions. In addition, okapi is found in a small area in the Congo River basin, and there they live only in clearings and forest edges, that is, in places where there is enough edible vegetation in the lower tier.

Herbivores cannot live under the continuous canopy of African rain forests, since there is no food supply there. The okapi's diet consists of leaves, which they pick off using their long, flexible tongue. Okapi also eat grass, but do so very rarely.

As shown by the results of research by zoologist De Medina, okapi are very selective in their food preferences. Thus, in their habitat you can find many species of plants from 13 families, but of these, only 30 species of okapi are eaten. The scientist also examined okapi droppings and found in it charcoal and brackish clay containing saltpeter, which is found on the banks of forest streams. By eating this clay, okapi compensate for the lack of minerals.

Okapi are solitary diurnal animals. They form pairs only during the mating period. Sometimes the female is accompanied by last year's cub, while the male treats the baby peacefully.

Okapi babies are born during the rainy season, that is, in August - October, after a 440-day pregnancy of the female. Childbirth takes place in the most remote and inaccessible forest thickets. Females take great care and protect their babies; in zoos, okapi mothers drive away even zoo workers, whom they are very accustomed to and trust, from their cubs.

Okapi have well-developed hearing; they are able to detect the smallest rustle in the forest. Their vision also allows them to see far into the twilight of the forest. Due to its stealth and good perception, which allows the okapi to recognize potential danger at distant approaches, this animal is very difficult to detect.

Okapi live in the Congo River basin. They do not live anywhere except in Zaire. Hidden and timid, for a long time they remained unknown to European researchers. Their secrecy saves them from hunters; the pygmies of Zaire build special hunting pits to kill okapi.

The okapi's tongue is approximately 40 centimeters long; with this tongue the animal can do unique things. Like a hamster, okapi has special pockets in its mouth for food.

Okapi are big clean people, they take very good care of their skin.

It is still not possible to study the behavior of okapi in the wild. There are constant wars in Zaire, making it impossible for a research mission to arrive safely.

Deforestation certainly affects the okapi population. It is estimated that there are no more than 20,000 of them left, and there are only 45 of them in zoos around the world.

Although okapi live alone and each animal has its own area, there is no competition for territory among them. Okapi's feeding areas can overlap, and several animals can graze together without conflict.

As we have already written, okapi's main diet is leaves, but okapi also eat fruits and mushrooms, some of which are toxic. Perhaps it is precisely to neutralize toxins that okapi eat charcoal from burnt trees, which perfectly absorbs toxins.

Okapi look very unusual; their chocolate fur on most of their body does not match their striped limbs. Males have a pair of small horns on their heads.

He can wash his eyes with his tongue.

Female okapi are somewhat stronger than males. At the same time, the average height at the withers reaches approximately 160 centimeters.

Most close relative okapi is a giraffe.