Okapi

Heather, thanks for the kind words.

Rudolph, You will notice Dandouchette's name all over ProjectNoah. He is a great, extremely knowledgeable person. Rudolph, you have some nice spottings so far on Project Noah.

No problem.

Amazing that you have that info at hand Dan. Thanks for sharing!

Summarized from 'The Okapi' by Lindeys, Green and Bennett. The okapis stripes help to camouflage it. In the dark forest, the animal appears to fade into the shadows. Even at a short distance, if it stands very still it can be difficult to see. The stripes, it is believed also help the young follow the mother in the forest, since the stripes are at the calf's eye level. Some people believe that the stripes may also act as a stimulus during mating because a great deal of circling, sniffing and standing head to tail occurs at this time.

So the striping on the legs...would that be for camo for hunting and not being hunted? Or are the stripes like plumage of an ostrich - to attract mates and show dominance in the breed and such things?

They were first classified as a species of Giraffe - Equus johnstoni in 1901 but then later put into it's own genus - Okapi because its head and teeth differed significantly. They are largely solitary animals browsing in primary forest, secondary forest and along stream beds.

Is that striping on the legs like zebra stripes? Are they herd animals?

The Oakpi is one of my favorite animals. It's my goal to see them in the wild some day.