PACE – Pan African Conservation Education was created by Tusk and Siren Conservation Education in 2004.
This booklet on Okapi was devised and created by Penny Fraser, PACE Coordinator and Berce N’SAFUANSA DISIKI, Wildlife Conservation Global, Okapi Conservation Project Program Manager in the Ituru Forest, Democratic Republic of Congo. Lucas Meers and his colleagues at OCP advised, assisted and supervised. Thanks to Katie Puremont for design and layout. Knowing DHL would safely deliver printed copies to schools and commuities in DRC ensured this resource would have impact where it is needed.
Additional information on Okapi and the work of One Health are available from The Okapi Conservation Project www.okapiconservation.org
Published in the UK by Tusk Trust.
4 Cheapside House, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 4AA, UK
© 2024 Tusk Trust & Okapi Conservation Project
This first edition published in 2024.
A catalogue record for this booklet is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-7393445-4-2
Moral rights of the authors have been asserted. All rights reserved. The authors have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and currency of the information in this publication. The authors disclaim any liability for loss, injury or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, from the use and application of the contents of this booklet.
All rights reserved.
PACE – Pan African Conservation Education
PACE is an education programme of Tusk www.tusk.org – it helps people understand and solve everyday environmental problems that impact on their well being, and on the wildlife and ecosystems we all depend on.
PACE is about helping people connect or reconnect with nature, to understand its inherent value and protect it for future generations. We work with conservation and education partners across Africa. Our educational resources are available free of charge. They are arranged in modules: Living with Wildlife, Water, Soil, Trees, Energy, Living by the Ocean, Urban Living, Health and Careers in Conservation. This booklet, co-produced with the Okapi Conservation Project, is part of the Living with Wildlife module.
It is an introduction to Okapi, a fascinating, rare and shy species, that is only found wild in certain remote forest areas in The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in Central Africa.
The Okapi Conservation Project
The Okapi Conservation Project is based in the Ituri Forest, in north east DRC, home to the largest number of wild Okapi, anywhere in the world. OCP was set up in 1987 and works with the indigenous Mbuti and Efe forest people, Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature – ICCN), other conservation organisations and local communities, to raise awareness of Okapi, the need to protect them and their habitat. OCP help comunities get involved with conservation by improving lives and livelihoods. They build and supply schools, health centres, dispensaries, women’s centres, and construct clean water sources. They provide emergency health and food assistance when needed, and provide training and support enterprise in agroforestry, tailoring, and other professions. OCP give a voice to and are empowering local people!
Why Okapi?
Okapi are fascinating, they are quiet, shy solitary animals, a metre and half tall, with stripes like a zebra, but related to giraffe. They live in the dense rainforest in certain parts of north and north east Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa – nowhere else.
Okapi are an important symbol of DRCs national heritage. They are revered by the indigenous forest people, and are a national symbol across the country. They feature on bank notes and in the name of many businesses and products.
Okapi are a flagship species for the extraordinary forest they live in. It is described as the lungs of Africa, and the heartbeat of the planet – one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth, home to gorilla, chimpanzees, forest elephant, leopard, forest buffalo, bongo, water chevrotain, sixteen other species of primates, and an incredible diversity of plants, birds and insects.
This booklet is a general introduction to this curious, rarely seen, gentle and inspiring species. The O’ap, as it is known to the local people, those who know it best, is the spirit of the forest, a symbol of power. By sharing what we know, and learn from this book, in schools, homes, communities and the media, we can all help to ensure O’api survive as living icons for future generations.
Okapi are related to giraffe. They are the only two species in the family Giraffidae.
Okapi taxonomy – relationship to other species
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
The order Artiodactyla includes Bovids.
Sub-order: Ruminantia
Family: Giraffidae
Okapi and Giraffe are in the Family Giraffidae. Bovids are in the family Bovidae.
Genus: Okapia, Okapia johnstoni
Okapi and giraffe have the same ancestors as the group of animals called Bovids – Cows, buffalo, antelopes, sheep and goats. Bovids are in the
order Artiodactyla (like Okapi), but have their own family Bovidae.
Okapi and Giraffe are in the Giraffidae family. They are the only living members of this family. There were others, but they went extinct in prehistoric times. Fossils of their extinct relatives have been found all across Europe and Africa. That’s why some people call okapi ‘living fossils’.
Okapi are ungulates. Ungulates are mammals that have hooves. Okapi have two hooves on each foot.
Okapi are ruminants. Ruminants have four parts to their stomach. They have a long digestion process, they ferment their food, regurgitate and re-chew! This lets them extract more nutrients.
Appearance
Okapi look similar to a horse. They have long legs, a strong, sturdy body, quite long necks, sloping shoulders and big, erect ears. They are dark, chocolate brown or chestnut brown in colour, with white stripes (like a zebra) on the top of their legs and rump (backside). The lower part of their legs are white, with dark markings.
The coat is velvety to touch, and it is oily. The oil repels and protects against the heavy rainfall, many mosquitos and other biting insects that are typical in rain forest environments.
Height – 1.5m
Weight – Females weigh 225 to 350kg. Males weigh 200-300kg.
Similarities to giraffe
• The shape of an Okapi’s head and skull are the same as giraffe.
• Both species have ossicones. Male and female giraffe have ossicones, but only male Okapi do.
• Both giraffe and Okapi have long, prehensile tounges.
Males have small ‘ossicones’, 10-15cm long, that look like horns.
Ossicones are made from bone, covered with skin and fur. Horns are made of keratin. Keratin is a protein. Our finger nails and hair are made of keratin. Ossicones look like horns but they are made of bone covered with skin. Horns, including those of antelope, rhino, cows, sheep and goats are made of keritin, and are not covered with skin or hair.
Only male okapi have ossicones. Females do not.
Okapi have a very long blue-black prehensile tongue.
The pattern of stripes is different on every individual, no one has the same markings.
Their stripes are like our fingerprint, unique to us.
Okapi are not related to zebra.
Behaviour
Okapi are shy, sometimes called secretive. They like to spend their time in the dark understorey of the forest. They stay away from human settlements, open areas and farms.
They are mostly solitary, living alone except when a male and female come together briefly to mate, or when a mother has a calf still living with her.
They are diurnal – active during the day – and have a fixed territory. Okapi are not aggressive, but they will kick and push an opponent with their head and ossicones.
Okapi walk a lot! They may trek 4–10 km a day, as they walk around their territory looking for food.
Okapi have scent glands on their feet that produce a sticky tar-like substance. It is left on the ground when they walk, and lets others know where their territory is.
Females defaecate, in the same places as a way of marking their territory. Males urinate to mark their territory. Both females and males rub their necks on trees to leave a scent marking.
Distribution
Okapi live in certain parts of The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), nowhere else. They used to live in Uganda, but no longer.
Okapi are endemic to DRC. Endemic means they don’t live anywhere else.
Okapi are locally extinct –extirpated – in Uganda.
EXTINCT means to no longer exist, anywhere. EXTIRPATE means to no longer exist in a particular place.
Range size
Each Okapi has it’s own clearly marked territory or range. For females it is 4-7 km2, and for males up to 17km2. The range of a male may include or overlap with the range of several females, they will live separately in the same space – except when they come together to mate.
Okapi have scent glands on each foot that leave a sticky tar-like residue wherever they walk to mark their territory.
Females poop (defaecate), and males pee (urinate) in toilet spots that mark the edge of their territory. Both sexes leave a scent markings by rubbing their necks on trees.
Habitat
Okapi live in dense equatorial rainforest, where it is hot, humid and there is a lot of rainfall. They don’t like swampy or mountainous areas and don’t like open woodland.
They like tall primary forest, with a lot of species, and shady understorey
Okapi live in hot, wet, humid forest – average temperature, 31oC and annual rainfall 1.9m is typical.
The forests are dark and often thick.
They do like to have patches of secondary forest, where trees have fallen, as the new fresh leaves and shoots are good to eat.
Okapi tend to stay away from human settlements and farms, they like the shade of the forest. They love to eat young leaves and buds. They look for these in patches of secondary growth, like gaps in the forest made where a tree fell, rather than on farms.
Their oily, velvety fur helps to repel water and biting insects.
The colours and pattern of their coat gives Okapi very good camoflage in the forest understorey. The understory is dark but often has dappled light or shafts of light where the sun shines through spaces in the canopy. Their dark brown coat, with stripes can make them almost impossible to see in this environment.
They are found in parts of the centre, north and east of DRC.
They have been seen visiting Semliki forest, just across the border in west Uganda a few times!
Population
We know that the number of Okapi has kept reducing since 1995.
In 2003 there were up to 30,000 living in the wild.
In 2013 there were 10-15,000 living wild, maybe as few as 5000.
There is insecurity and armed rebels living in the Okapi forest, so recently a census hasn’t been possible.
A census is a survey or count of the number of individuals in a population.
Wildlife rangers collect information about Okapi as they patrol: where and when and how many there are.
Even for experienced rangers it is difficult to see Okapi in the wild. As well as living in remote, densely forested areas that are difficut to reach, they are also shy animals, generally avoid people, and are camuflaged. This means that a census is an estimate. They record clues or signs that Okapi passed by: signs like dung, hoof prints, hair, crushed vegetation where they rested, or plants they have eaten from.
The number of Okapi has kept reducing since 1995.
Routine
Okapi are diurnal – they sleep at night and are active during daylight. They feed in the mornings and evenings, and rest in the middle of the day. They move around a lot, within their territory, and can walk 4-10km every day, looking for food, and when the time is right, looking for a mate. They have a network of regular paths that they follow in the forest.
Okapi are diurnal
• Diurnal means active during the day.
• Nocturnal means active during the night.
• Crepuscular means active at dawn and dusk /twilight.
Food / diet and feeding
Camoflage
Their colouring makes Okapi difficult to see in the mix of dark shade and dappled light in the forest.
Adaptations
• Camuflaged coat.
• Long tongue.
• Eat clay, soil and bat poo to add minerals to their diet.
Okapi are herbivores. They browse on the leaves and buds of understory plants and occasionaly eat fruit, fungi, even wood and tubers.
Finish reading this book then list four other ways Okapi have adaptated to their environment!
Okapi walk around the forest feeding, they walk 4-10km a day looking for food. They will stay within their marked territory. Their diet includes more than one hundred different species of plant. They like patches of secondary forest, where fresh young growth is spouting.
Grazing animals feed on grasses and plants on the ground.
Browsers feed on leaves of bushes, trees and shrubs.
Okapi are browsers.
Okapi can eat certain leaves, fruits, and fungi that are poisonous to people and other species. They eat charcoal and clay which is believed to absorb the toxins, causing it to pass through their gut without ill effect.
As well as clay, they sometimes lick bat poo –it also contains minerals that are missing in their food.
Ruminants are animals that have four parts to their stomach. They chew their food and swallow it. It goes into the first part of their stomach, where saliva and enzymes start to ferment and break it down. It then passes to the next part of the stomach and forms little pieces called cuds.
When the Okapi has a break from feeding, in the middle or end of the day, it will rest in a safe place, regurgitate the semi digested cuds and spend time chewing them to break up the fibre – this is ‘chewing the cud.’ Chewed cuds are swallowed and go straight to the next part of the stomach to be fermented and digested more.
Okapi are ruminants.
Ruminants are animals with an adapted stomach that helps them digest nutrients in tough, coarse foodstuff.
This process and their four part stomach is an adaptation that helps digest and get nutrients from the roughage and fibre in the coarse foodstuff they eat.
Antelope, buffalo, giraffe, sheep, goats and cows are all ruminants.
Ruminate – is a verb that means to ‘chew the cud’, or to chew over something a second time. It is also used to describe a person who is thinking deeply about something – we say they are ‘ruminating!’
Okapi have a long, prehensile tongue.
Prehensile means that it can be wrapped around things, to grasp or hold them.
It is used to pick out the plants they want to eat, and to strip leaves from branches. The tongue is dark blue in colour.
Okapi use their long tongues to groom themselves. They even clean their eyes, ears and head with their long tongues.
Family
Okapi generally spend their time living alone – they are solitary, except when a male and female briefly come together to mate, or a mother has a dependant calf.
Males and females live separatly. The males have bigger territories that may include the range of numerous females.
Males do not play any part in caring, providing for or protecting the young.
An Okapi becomes physically mature at about 2 years old.
Newborn calves can stand almost as soon as they are born.
Lifespan
Okapi live 15 to 30 years.
Reproduction
Female Okapi mature sexually at 1¾ to 3 years old. Males mature at 2 ¼ to 3 years old.
They breed through out the year. Females oestrus cycle is every 15 days. When in oestrus they signal their location, in a way males can detect, using special Okapi ‘infra-sound’ communications. Males listen for this and search them out.
Humans can not detect infrasound, unless they have special equipment.
Gestation is ususally 14 ½ months, up to 16 months.
Females deliver a single calf. It is very rare for them to have twins.
When born the baby has the same colours as an adult, it is much smaller, about 22kg, and has a fringe of hair along its back.
A calf can stand and walk almost as soon as it is born. It immidiately finds a hiding place, inside the roots of a tree, in undergrowth, under rocks, a bank or other place where it can not be seen. It will stay there for 2-3 months, coming out only when the mother calls it to come and feed. She calls using infra-sound, will nurse it before a quick return to its hiding place. The mother never visits the calf’s nest. If she went to her baby’s hiding place, then leopards may follow her scent and prey on the young one.
Fun fact – an Okapi calf doesn’t poop (defaecate), at all, in the first 60 days of it’s life. This may be to prevent predators from detecting it’s scent. Leopards will easily kill young calves.
The mother’s milk is rich and calves grow quickly, doubling or tripling their weight in 2 months. When 2-3 months old it starts to move with the mother, but is still weak and easy prey for leopards.
Calves wean at 6-12 months old.
The young okapi is adult size at around two years of age.
A nursing okapi doubles her consumption of leaves. This helps her produce rich fatty milk for the calf.
Movement
Just like their giraffe cousins, Okapi have to splay their legs to drink. Splay means to spread their legs wide apart.
Communication and senses
Good hearing and smell are very important in the dark, dense forest where it is difficult to see things.
Sense of smell. Okapi have a very good sense of smell. They can detect humans and other animals by smell, even at long distances.
Hearing. Okapi have very good hearing. Large ears help them ‘catch’ sound, even from far away. They can move their ears in different directions, one in one direction, the other facing differently, which means they can hear sounds from all sides at the same time.
The part of an Okapi’s brain that deals with sound is larger than most species.
Vocalisations. Okapi are generally silent animals. They make a quiet coughing sound, a snort, when disturbed. They ‘chuff’ when two meet, and a moan is used by a male telling females they are open to mating. When stressed or alarmed a calf will bleet to its mother.
Okapi communicate using infra-sound, soundwaves that humans and other species can not detect – their own secret communication!
They use these subsonic (low wavelength sounds), even over long distances.
Scientists have recorded Okapi communications only by using special instruments!
Health
Okapi suffer from parasites, and from usual wounds, injuries –cuts, breaks – and infections from living in a dense forest.
Predators
Posture. An Okapi shows dominance by raising its neck up high. The neck is put down on the ground to show submission.
Scent. Okapi mark their territory using scent that is in their urine and faecies, and from scent glands in the skin. They rub their necks against trees to leave a scent marking, and also have scent glands on their feet that leave a black tar like scent marking on the ground.
Leopards are the main predator. Leopard will prey on adult okapi if they can, sometimes they succeed, sometimes not. Young calves are very vulnerable to leopards because they are small and weak.
Humans and human activity are Okapi’s biggest danger.
Okapi in DRC national culture
Okapi are a national symbol in DRC, they are on bank notes and stamps. Okapi are the emblem of the government’s Nature conservation agency – Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN).
Okapi are revered by the indigenous forest people of the Congo basin and have been protected by national law, since 1933!
Okapi in local culture
Many businesses and products are named after Okapi.
DRC national radio is called
The Ituri Forest where Okapi live has been home to the indigenous Mbuti and Efe peoples for over 40,000 years. They live as stewards of the forest and champions of conservation. The Forest is the cultural center of these tribes. They are some of the last true “forest people” on Earth, huntergatherers and deep forest-dwellers.
These local tribes consider the Okapi as sacred and have many customs related to them. They believe Okapi are the spirits of the forest, and if one dies or has been killed it is a big event and they grieve the dead animal.
Okapi are a symbol of power. During the enthronement ceremony of a traditional chief, an okapi skin was placed on the ground for the new chief to sit on it. He would also wear a hat and belts made with okapi skin.
In most tribes, even beyond the Mubuti and Efe, only a chief is allowed to sit on an Okapi skin.
Marriage ceremonies – Among the Mbuti pygmies, marriage is done by changing sisters. If a young man did not have a sister, an okapi skin was used to marry the girl.
Medicinal and protective power – Chiefs would allow an okapi to be killed to cure or prevent illness or epidemics in their communities. The meat was cut into small pieces so that everyone could have a portion to eat.
Eating okapi meat without the chief’s permission is strictly forbidden by the ancestors. Anyone eating Okapi without the chief’s authorisation was believed to have practiced cannibalism and chased out of the village.
In the past the indigenous people relied on the forest for all their needs, this included hunting and trapping for meat, but they hunted for their own consumption and it was sustainable. Now, local people, especially around the reserves do not hunt Okapi, because it is a protected species.
The Lese tribes in DRC call Okapi “o’api”. In Lese “oka” means to cut, and “kpi” is the striped design they make on their arrows – by wrapping the arrow with bark before scorching with fire, then removing the bark. The stripes on the Okapi legs look like the stripes on their arrow shafts!
Living together
Okapi pose no threat to people, they are not aggressive, and they stay away from agricultural areas. They do not damage crops or harm livestock. They are browsers that choose to feed on forest plants and like the quiet of the forest.
Okapi Conservation
The Okapi Wildlife Reserve, in the Ituri Forest, where OCP is based, and the Maiko National Park are refuges for Okapi. Most live in the Ituri Reserve. There are also chimpanzees, forest elephant, leopard, forest buffalo, bongo antelope, water chevrotain, sixteen other primate species, and an great diversity of plants, birds and insects.
The Reserve was set up in 1992. It is a World Heritage Site, nowhere else in the world has the same richness of plant and animal species. It is home to many species only found in DRC.
Endemic. An endemic species is found only in a particular area. A species may be endemic to a forest, a reserve, a mountain range, a country. Okapi are endemic to DRC.
Okapi are an emblem, a symbol, or flagship species for the Congo forest ecosystem.
Why Conservation? The problems
Even though DRC is vast, Okapi live in few places and the forests they need are getting smaller.
The number of people is increasing, and most are not forest dwellers. Many have come there from the east, fleeing insecurity. Slash and burn agriculture is common. As land is cleared for farming and new settlements the Okapi and other wildlife lose their habitat. Deforestation and forest fragmentation is also caused by large-scale mining for minerals and logging for timber. The workers and their families in logging and mining camps need food. Many depend on bushmeat. Okapi are often caught in traps and snares set for other species like duiker, porcupine and ratmole.
Deforestation is when forest is lost.
Forest fragmentation is when a large area of forest is broken up into many small areas separated by farms, settlements, mines, logged areas. Fragmentation means wildlife is restricted and doesn’t thrive.
Armed rebels also take refuge in these remote areas. Political instability and activity of armed rebels mean that people’s lives are challenging, and conservation laws difficult to enforce.
Conservation solutions
The Okapi Conservation Project provides some stability. It started in 1987 and is based in the Ituri Forest Reserve. They support wildlife and forest rangers, who monitor wildlife, and enforce laws. They collect snares, evict illegal miners and catch poachers. Most are local people and the jobs are a life line.
OCP works with the indigenous Mbuti and Efe forest people who have extraordinary knowledge of the forest and the okapi and other wildlife that live there. The late Chief Zaire Nzikale Badiki was a celebrated traditional hunter. He supported and advised conservationists and reserve managers to protect the forest and wildlife against poaching and illegal activity.
120 rangers are employed in just one reserve.
OCP help comunities get involved with conservation by improving lives and livelihoods. They build and supply schools, health centres, dispensaries, women’s centres, and construct clean water sources. If needed they provide emergency health and food assistance.
They have trained farmers in conservation agriculture and and agroforestry. This increases farm outputs and maintains fertility so they don’t need to keep cutting forest for new farmland. They also have surpluses to sell, decreasing dependance on forest resources.
OCP have helped women to set up tailoring, and other small businesses, so they can live well without depleting the forest and natural resources.
Compare stripe patterns – can you find two the same in this book?
References
IUCN Red List. Okapi. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/15188/51140517
Mallon, D., Kümpel, N., Quinn, A., Shurter, S., Lukas, J., Hart, J.A., Mapilanga, J., Beyers, R. & Maisels, F. 2015. Okapia johnstoni. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015.
Okapi Conservation Project. https://www.okapiconservation.org/the-okapi . Accessed on 10 July 2024.
Animal Diversity Webt. University of Michigan, Museum of Zoology. https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Okapia_johnstoni/
Noëlle F. Kümpel, Alex Quinn, Elise Queslin, Sophie Grange, David Mallon and Jean-Joseph Mapilanga (2015). Okapi (Okapia johnstoni): Conservation Strategy and Status Review. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN and Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN). pp. 58
Chambers 21st Century dictionary. 2002. Chambers Harrap. Uk.
How Many Species of Wild Ruminants Are There in Africa? Colin Groves. Society for conservation biology.
https://conbio.org/groups/sections/africa/act/how-many-species-of-wild-ruminants-are-there-in-africa
Image credits
Okapi Conservation project camera trap photos p5 top left & bottom middle, p6, p21.
Okapi Conservation project pages 8, 11, 22, 25 (top), 27, 28, 29, 30. Pages 1, top & middle p4, pp 13, 15, /Shutterstock.
P 3 Okapi in Congo, Jiri Hrebicek via Getty Images
P 4 bottom, giraffe, Siingapore zoo. Tcp via IStock
P8/9 Camp Putnam, Epulu River, DRC/Shutterstock
P12 Mark Newman via Getty Images
P16/17 Okapi in Congo/Shutterstock
P19 mother & calf, captive /Shutterstock
P20, top, Doue La Fontaine zoo, France. Hemis/Alamy Stock Photo. Thomas Ash/Alamy Stock Photo bottom
P23 Mbuti forest camp, Okapi Wildlife Reserve, near Epulu, DRC. Associated Press/Alamy Stock Photo.
P24 Nature Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo
P25 bottom, Ituri Forest, DRC /Shutterstock
P26 top Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals. Bottom, Cleared forest DRC/Shutterstock.
P31 Mark Newman via Getty Images
Front cover Petr Kolb via Getty Images
P30/31 Clockwise from top left - OCP camera trap; blickwinkel/Alamy Stock Photo; bottom Arterra Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo; OCP camera trap.
Inside back cover BIOSPHOTO/Alamy Stock Photo
PACE is an education programme of Tusk www.tusk.org . PACE helps people understand and solve everyday environmental problems that impact on their well-being, and on the wildlife and ecosystems we all depend on. PACE is about helping people connect or reconnect with nature, to understand its inherent value and protect if for future generations.
PACE shares information about the environment and wildlife, and the very practical ways in which people are addressing common environmental problems so that we people, wildlife and our planet have a secure and healthy future. There are ten modules in the PACE pack, this booklet is part of the Living with Wildlife module.
PACE is for students, teachers, community use and general reading Contact pace@tusk.org www.paceproject.net
Acknowledgements
Tusk thanks DHL for their significant and generous support of PACE. Their support has been fundamental to our success to date.
