The okapi is such a beautiful animal nad has some amazing characteristics. It is related to the giraffe, although it’s neck is the sort of size you would expect for a deer, and it’s tongue can do extraordinary ablutions on the rest of its head… I’m too squeamish to describe them! They can grow up to eight foot long and six foot high and can weigh nearly 800 pounds.
They mostly come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in an area which is prey to such human conflict their habitat is compromised. Their name is an Anglicized version of their original Lese name, o’api, and Europe first learned of their existence through the exploration of Stanley, the man-made famous for his utterance “Dr Livingstone, I presume!” They are herbivores and their favoured diet includes ferns, fungi and fruit. Apparently they also are quite partial to burnt wood, the charcoal which results from forest fires.
Sadly like so many other animals, they are endangered as a species; not necessarily through hunting, but also from the war-torn area they live in.
These okapi, however, safe in Dublin Zoo, are part of a breeding programme trying to save the species.
Lois Elsden 