An okapi is roughly the size of a horse, with a rich chocolate-brown coat and striking black-and-white stripes on its hindquarters and upper legs. The stripes are thought to help baby okapis follow their mothers through the dappled light of the dark forest — a perfect natural pattern for camouflage and family bonding.
The okapi's most extraordinary feature might be its tongue, which is so long — about 30 to 45 centimetres — that it can use it to clean its own ears and eyes! The tongue is also blue-black in colour, just like a giraffe's. These similarities remind scientists that the okapi and the giraffe share a common ancestor.
Okapis are very shy and mostly solitary. They live deep in the Ituri rainforest in northeastern DRC, and they move quietly through the trees on their own, eating leaves, fruit and fungi. For many years they were so secretive that local Congolese people knew them well but European scientists thought the rumours of such a creature were just a legend.
The okapi was officially recognised by Western scientists only in 1901 — making it one of the last large mammals to be 'discovered'. Today okapis are protected in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the heart of the Ituri forest.