THE ANIMAL FILES

Okapi

Okapia johnstoni

Zebra-like legs belong to a relative of the giraffe.

Okapis have dark bodies, striped legs and long tongues for browsing. Their closest living relative is the giraffe, despite the first impression made by the stripes. Forest feeding and scent communication shape a mostly solitary life.[1]

Follow the evidence ↓
Okapi
Image: Daniel Jolivet · Commons · CC BY 2.0
Family
Giraffidae[1]
Food
Leaves, buds and other forest plants[1]
Male head
Short, skin-covered ossicones[1]

Stripes do not determine kinship

Pale horizontal stripes contrast with the brown body, but the okapi shares a family with the giraffe. Males bear short ossicones, while females lack prominent ones. Both giraffids also use a pacing gait, moving the front and hind leg on the same side together. Several traits, not a single colour pattern, inform comparison.[1]

Selecting food with a tongue

The long dark tongue plucks buds and leaves and also assists grooming. Shrubs and lianas supply important foods in the forest understory, with many plant species used. Selective browsing lets the animal remove particular buds and leaves.[1]

Messages between solitary animals

Okapis use overlapping ranges and scent marks, including urine on vegetation. Contact calls, courtship sounds and calf calls also occur. Solitary living means individuals often travel and feed apart, not that they never exchange information or encounter one another. Forest cover makes persistent chemical marks useful for contacts separated in time.[1]

A COMMON MIX-UP

Do zebra-like stripes make the okapi a zebra relative?

No. It is a giraffid; resemblance of one feature is not a family assignment.[1]

TRY A LITTLE REASONING

Why can scent marks matter when animals usually feed alone?

Reveal the explanation

A mark can be encountered after its maker leaves, carrying information without simultaneous contact.[1]

Sources & editorial notes

Adapted and translated from the cited Wikipedia revisions, with source-linked reasoning. Image credit and licence are listed separately above.

Adapted and translated from Wikipedia contributors; exact revisions are linked below. CC BY-SA 4.0

  1. Wikipedia contributors — Okapia johnstoni (adapted and translated; exact revision)
  2. NCBI Taxonomy — Okapia johnstoni (identity and game lineage)

Last fact check:

One discovery leads to another

MooseA deer that browses below the waterline.Alces alces ↗Roe deerA field can be a feeding place while a hedge serves as refuge.Capreolus capreolus ↗Red deerEach antler is grown, used and shed—not kept for life.Cervus elaphus ↗