Threats
habitat destruction,
accidental trapping
STATUS:
IUCN -- NEAR THREATENED
SIZE:
Length
6 feet (1.8 m)
Weight:
440Ð550 pounds
(200Ð250 kg)
Shoulder Height:
5 feet (1.5 m)
HABITAT:
Equatorial forest at altitudes greater than 1,640 feet
(500 m)
POPULATION:
Unknown, possibly
in the tens of thousands
CURRENT RANGE:
Northeastern Zaire
CONSERVATION":
Protected in Ituri National Park; captive-breeding programs
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The Shadow
The Ituri Forest in eastern Zaire is one of Africa's largest rain forests. Many species of plants and animals here are found nowhere else in the world. One of the most elusive and striking of these is the okapi, a relative of the giraffe with zebralike stripes on its legs and hindquarters and a dark chocolate-brown coat -- markings that blend well into the light and shadows of the forest.
The okapi wasn't known outside of Africa until the turn of the century. It was one of the last large African mammals to be described by western science. Their reproductive rate is slow -- female okapis bear young only once every two years. They're also known to be solitary animals, and -- unlike most of Africa's mammals -- they don't have regular watering holes. These habits make okapis virtually impossible to study in the wild, so very little scientific information has been gathered about them.
Real Dangers...Unknown Effects
Okapis have long been known to the native peoples of the Ituri Forest, who hunt them for food. Their subsistence hunting has never been a threat to the species, but okapis may face real dangers today from habitat loss and accidental captures in traps set for smaller game. They can't be counted accurately, but recent estimates put their numbers at several thousand. Whether this population is stable, increasing, or declining is not known, but it is apparent that their range is decreasing where forest is being cut down or converted to farmland.
Worldwide, there are a total of 88 okapis living in captivity; 49 of these animals are involved in a captive-breeding program. Genetic variability is a key issue in these programs. Involving enough individuals to avoid inbreeding is a difficult task with animals as reclusive as okapis.
The Okapi Nature reserve in Zaire is also home to other threatened mammals, including the African elephant, the African golden cat, the aquatic civit, and the clawless otter. It is also home to many rare birds -- spotted ibis, black-collared lovebird, and the golden-naped weaver.
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