The okapi did not become known to scientists until about 1900. When people first see an okapi, they wonder the same thing early discoverers wondered—what is it? A kind of horse? A kind of zebra? Though it is about the size of a horse and has stripes on its rump that look like a zebra’s, the okapi is a unique animal that is most closely related to the giraffe.
It is not surprising that the okapi has been hard to find and study in the wild. It lives only in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa under the protection of the dense rainforest. The okapi leads a very secretive life, usually traveling by itself and dashing away if its large ears catch the slightest sound made by a predator like a leopard or a human. Its dark coat camouflages it within the shadowy rainforest, and its stripes blend in with the light that filters through the leaves.
Okapis are secretive about their babies, too; they keep them well hidden in the vegetation on the forest floor. Baby okapis stay in their hiding place for about two months. During this time, they don’t nurse from their mothers very often and they don’t poop. This helps them to stay hidden from predators until the okapis grow a little bigger.
Though they don’t eat much as babies, okapis make up for it as adults. They eat 40 to 65 pounds of leaves, twigs and fruit a day, using their long, prehensile tongues to strip their food from branches.