The okapi is the only known living relative of the giraffe and lives in the rain forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and western Uganda. It prefers to live a solitary and secluded life, away from human observation, and for this reason it was not discovered until 1900. It has a long, prehensile, purplish tongue, which it uses to grab leaves from bushes and trees, and even to groom its ears! The male has two small, skin-covered bony knobs on its forehead. The okapi finds the minerals its body needs by eating sulfurous clay found along river banks.The okapi is considered a "living fossil", because it's the only animal similar to the prehistoric giraffes.
Still rare and threatened, the okapi lives only in the tall primary forests of eastern DRC, mainly in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, centered around the village of Epulu. It is reported that the okapi was originally discovered further east in the forests along the SemlikiValley, VirungaNational Park which today is a UN World Heritage site protected by international and national laws.
In the 1890s, the explorer Henry Morton Stanley described the Okapi as a kind of forest donkey. Others had thought it might be an antelope. When the explorer Sir Harry Johnston sent a piece of striped okapi skin to the British Museum, London scientists announced the discovery of a new species of forest zebra.When a complete okapi was finally found 1901, biologists were astonished to find that its closest living relative was the giraffe.
The lowland sector of VirungaNational Park has been the hideout for different rebel groups over the past 20 years and as a result has prevented ICCN (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature) from patrolling the areas. The difficult terrain has also prevented logging and farming there, which, according to WWF, explains why the rare species has survived unnoticed.
Okapi have graced everything from bank notes, books to postal stamps
The okapi is the only known living relative of the giraffe and lives in the rain forests of the 
The okapi is considered a "living fossil", because it's the only animal similar to the prehistoric giraffes.
In the 1890s, the explorer Henry Morton Stanley described the Okapi as a kind of forest donkey. Others had thought it might be an antelope. When the explorer Sir Harry Johnston sent a piece of striped okapi skin to the British Museum, London scientists announced the discovery of a new species of forest zebra.When a complete okapi was finally found 1901, biologists were astonished to find that its closest living relative was the giraffe.
Okapi have graced everything from bank notes, books to postal stamps
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