Okapi | African Unicorn l World's Weirdest Animals #shorts

Okapi | African Unicorn l World’s Weirdest Animals #CloseUp #Shorts #Okapi

THE LITTLE KNOWN AND ELUSIVE OKAPI ARE NICKNAMED ‘AFRICAN UNICORN’
The okapi, also known as the forest giraffe, African Unicorn, Congolese giraffe, or zebra giraffe, is an artiodactyl mammal that is endemic to the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. Although the okapi has striped markings reminiscent of zebras, the okapi is the only living relative of the giraffe. One of the earliest Western reports of this mythical “African unicorn” references a leaf-eating African donkey spotted in the late 19th century. From afar it resembled a small horse or donkey with zebra stripes on its forequarters, hindquarters, and rump. After some scientific tussling as to whether it was in fact a donkey, a forest eland, or a species of zebra, it was established that this beautiful creature is related to none of the aforementioned. Like a giraffe, the okapi has very large, upright ears, which catch even slight sounds. The most striking thing about Okapi is their beautiful dark velvety fur and a stripey rear, but the biggest clue to which family they belong to is their long necks.

This is a male okapi. Males have ossicones (some call them horns) like giraffes, which are columnar or conical skin-covered bone structures on the heads of giraffes. Ossicones are distinguished from the superficially similar structures of horns and antlers by their unique development and a permanent covering of skin and fur. Female okapi lack horns but do have small bumps on their head where the horns on male okapi are located. If you would like to see our video of a female okapi, please check out the below link;

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