Okapi

  

The Life of Animals | Okapi | The tongue of the okapi is also long enough for the animal to wash its eyelids and clean its ears (inside and out). Male okapis have short, skin-covered horns Called ossicones. Okapis are 1.9 to 2.5 meters (6.2 to 8.2 ft) long and stand 1.5 to 2.0 meters (4.9 to 6.6 ft) high at the shoulder. Okapis are primarily diurnal, although recent photo Captures have challenged this long held assumption.

Okapis are essentially solitary, coming together only to breed, with the exception of mothers and offspring. Okapis forage along fixed, well-trodden paths through the forest. They have overlapping home ranges of Several square kilometres and typically occur at densities of about 0.6 animals per square kilometer (about 1.5 animals per square mile). Several Okapis have methods of communicating Their territory, including scent glands on each foot That Produce a tar-like substance, as well as urine marking.

Okapis prefer altitudes of 500 to 1,000 m, but may venture above 1,000 m in the eastern montane rainforests. Because there is a considerable amount of rain in these forests, okapis have an oily, velvety coat of fur That repels the water. The range of the okapi is limited by high montane forests to the east, swamp forests below 500 m to the west, savannas of the Sahel / Sudan to the north, and open woodlands to the south. Okapis are most common in the Wamba and Epulu areas.

Although okapis are not classified as endangered, They are Threatened by habitat destruction and poaching. Conservation work in the Congo includes the continuing study of okapi behavior and lifestyle, the which led to the creation in 1992 of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. The Wildlife Conservation Society is also active in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. On June 8, 2006, Scientists reported evidence of surviving That okapis in Congo's Virunga National Park Had been discovered. In September 2008, the Wildlife Conservation Society reported That one of Their camera traps snapped the first pictures ever taken of an okapi in Virunga National Park.

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