Rare Cousin to the Giraffe Found

The elusive and peculiar Okapi, Okapia johnstoni,
a relative of the giraffe that dwells in dense rainforests.
Image: Denver Zoo.

One of my favorite mammals is the little-known relative of the giraffe; the shy and retiring okapi. This peculiar animal, which is approximately the size of a horse, is so rare and elusive that no one really knows how many remain throughout all of its range in Africa.

So imagine the delight of scientists when they recently found evidence that this animal still lives in part of its range where it was thought to be extinct because it had not been seen since 1959. Okapi tracks and other signs were found in a rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa, which has been experiencing a bloody civil war along with rampant poaching of wildlife.

In 1901, the "o'api" was described by Sir Harry H. Johnston from several pieces of skins and was misidentified as a horse, and named Equus johnstoni. Later, a complete skin and two skulls were obtained and the okapi was correctly identified as a relative of the giraffe and renamed Okapia johnstoni.

There are a few okapi in zoos around the world, but they have proven difficult to breed in captivity.

Amazing fact: The okapi has been the subject of research ever since chromosome studies revealed that individuals with 2n=45 were more common than those having the expected 2n=46. This anomaly has been related to the Robertsonian translocation, or fusion, phenomenon, where the telomeres of two distinct chromosomes fuse to form one, thereby reducing the total number of chromosomes by one (Bodmer 1992). [Note: this is the most common cause of familial Down syndrome in humans]