Okapi
Okapia johnstoni
🦓
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Pecora
Giraffidae
Okapia johnstoni
The Forest Shadow — Okapia johnstoni, the okapi, is the last living relative of the giraffe — a secretive browser of the Congo’s rainforests that moves like a ghost through shafts of green light and silence.
Description
Discovered by Western science only in 1901, Okapia johnstoni had been known to the local Mbuti and Lese peoples for countless generations as the “forest giraffe.” It shares a common ancestor with the modern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), but while its cousin evolved into a towering plains browser, the okapi became the forest’s secretive mirror image — shorter, quieter, and solitary.
It stands about 1.5 m at the shoulder and bears a silky, chocolate-brown coat with striking zebra-like white stripes on its legs and hindquarters — an adaptation for camouflage among tree shadows and filtered light. Its long, prehensile tongue (up to 35 cm) allows it to strip leaves and buds from understory trees, particularly Omphalocarpum and Uapaca species.
Native exclusively to the Ituri Rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the okapi represents a lineage that diverged from giraffes about 11 million years ago — the last of its kind in a world that once teemed with short-necked giraffids.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
230
1.5
2.25
2
kg
m
m
m
Mixed Feeder
Omnivores – Balanced
Hunt History
For millennia, the okapi was hunted by local forest peoples for its meat and hide. After its scientific discovery, trophy hunting and trade further reduced populations, followed by decades of habitat destruction and poaching during civil unrest. Indigenous hunters traditionally used snares and pit traps, though their scale of take was small and sustainable compared to modern threats.
Historical and cultural associations:
Ituri Forest, DRC — Long known to the Mbuti as “atti,” a creature of forest spirits and quiet power.
Semliki and Epulu Regions — Sites of early 20th-century collections and the founding of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve.
Garamba Basin — Fossil evidence of ancestral giraffids (~5 million years BP), indicating long-term lineage continuity in Central Africa.
Time & Range
Extinction Status
Extant
Extinction Date
Temporal Range
Region
0
BP
Late Pleistocene
Africa
Wiki Link
Fat Analysis
Fatness Profile:
Medium
Fat %
5
Est. Renderable Fat
11.5
kg
Targeted Organs
Visceral & subcutaneous
Adipose Depots
Visceral/subcutaneous (general)
Preferred Cuts
Visceral depot
Hunt Difficulty (x/5)
3