Can
you imagine what it would be like to have a tongue about
as long as your backpack? An okapi (oh-KAH-pee)
can. Its tongue measures fourteen inches. It can even use
its tongue to clean its own eyes!
Time
for a Double Take
The
first time you see an okapi, you may be confused. An okapi's
reddish-brown body looks like a donkey's. However, the upper
legs and rump are striped like a zebra's. Its head and neck
look like a giraffe's, but okapis are only five to six feet
tall from shoulders to the ground. This is one unusual animal!
You
might wonder what's up with those striped legs. They help
camouflage okapis because the white part looks like glimmers
of sunlight in the forest. The rest of the okapi's brown
body blends into the darkness. This helps them hide from
their enemies, leopards and humans.
Gulping
Down the Greens
Okapis
are herbivores (HER-buh-vawrz). They do
not eat meat. Instead, they gobble down grass, fruit, seeds,
and leaves. Okapis have black, prehensile
(pree-HEN-sul) tongues. That means their tongues are especially
good at pulling and grasping. They can wrap their tongues
completely around leaves to yank them off the branch.
Unraveling
the Mystery
Wild
okapis live in only one place on the globe-- the dense rainforests
of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Africa. They
are one of the rarest animals alive. In fact, not much is
known about them because they live in such an isolated part
of the world. It's easy to see why American and European
scientists didn't even know okapis existed for sure until
1901!
Although you may never see an okapi in the wild, you can
visit them in zoos or on the internet. Zoos where okapis
live often have information about them on their websites,
including The San Diego Zoo (www.sandiegozoo.com
) and the Saint Louis Zoo (www.stlzoo.org).
Thanks to technology, a very mysterious mammal is becoming
better known all the time. So check out okapis and get to
know them for yourself!
