Field guide · common
Okapi
The forest giraffe — a zebra-striped relative of the giraffe, hidden in Congo rainforest until 1901.
Endangered
Overview
The okapi looks like a creature assembled from spare parts: giraffe-like head on a horse body with vivid zebra stripes on the legs. It is the giraffe's only living relative, sharing a long blue tongue and ossicone head bumps, but adapted to dense rainforest rather than open savanna.
Okapis were unknown to Western science until 1901, when British explorers confirmed local accounts of a 'forest donkey' in the Ituri Rainforest. They remain elusive — solitary browsers of the understorey, rarely seen despite their size.
Habitat
Dense primary rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo holds the okapi's entire wild range. The Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Ituri Forest protects the largest population, though civil conflict and poaching remain constant threats.
Countries found
Interesting facts
- 01
Okapis were unknown to Western science until 1901 — they look like zebra-giraffe hybrids.
- 02
Their 35-centimetre tongue is blue and long enough to clean their own ears.
- 03
Okapis are the giraffe's closest living relative.
Conservation status
Okapis are Endangered, confined to the Ituri Rainforest of DR Congo. Poaching, habitat loss, and instability from armed conflict threaten one of Africa's most unusual mammals.
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Where it lives
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