What Is an Okapi? Get to Know This Strange Creature That Looks Like a Giraffe, Horse Combo

Okapi is an interesting animal that can be confusing to identify. At first, it looks like a giraffe, a horse, a deer, and a zebra. Here are all the things you need to know about it.

Okapi a Giraffe or a Horse?

African okapis look like a giraffe and a horse. For some, it appeared like a deer and zebra combo. Its unique appearance, which seems to be a combination of equestrians, leaves many dumbfounded.

To put the debate to rest whether it's a giraffe or a horse, the okapi is a separate animal. However, it is closer to a giraffe than a horse because it belongs to the Giraffidae family.

Only giraffes and okapi are the living members of the Giraffidae family; neither is closely related to horses.

Although okapis share physical similarities with horses, zebras, and other Equidae family members, they are genetically separate and possess distinctive features, including striped legs and a long tongue. The only thing okapis share with horses aside from their sheer appearance is their being herbivores.

Zebras, horses, and donkeys are all members of the equine species.

The primary Equus genus is divided into two distinct groups -- caballoids, the "true horses," and non-caballoids, like zebras and donkeys! Since this break in their evolutionary history, zebras and donkeys are more connected to each other than zebras to horses.

Also, zebras are more aggressive and unyielding than horses. Apart from their size and back shapes, zebras are quite hard to tame, which is another reason humans rarely ride them. Again, we cannot be certain that horses were ever as ferocious or challenging to tame as zebras because humans have been domesticating them for thousands of years.

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What Is an Okapi?

Okapi is known as the "forest giraffe" and is the surviving relative of giraffes. The only area where the okapi may be found in the wild is the Ituri Rainforest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Its thick, oily fur helps it stay dry in the rain. To assist in identifying its territory, it also has scent glands on the underside of its hooves. The okapi's small horns are covered in skin, with the exception of the tips. While most females have knobby bumps instead of horns, all males have horns.

The okapi inhabits the rainforest's lush vegetation. Its rump's brown and white stripes resemble sunshine peeking through the trees, helping it fit in with its surroundings.

Okapis have a plant-based diet, so they consume leaves, twigs, fruits, and buds. Like the giraffe and cow, the okapi has four stomachs to help break down difficult vegetation.

Like their giraffe relatives, okapis have a long, black tongue capable of removing leaves from branches. An okapi eats 45 to 60 pounds of food daily, including salt and minerals from riverbed clay. Occasionally, it will consume bat dung to obtain nutrition.

The elusive okapi is a solitary animal. Males also sprinkle pee on their territory, and their hooves secrete sticky territorial markings. However, okapis occasionally gathered in small groups for play, grooming, and feeding.

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