<)()4 THK OK API OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



as yet unknown, it can not be stated positiveh' that the okapi pos- 

 sesses a prehensile tongue like the giraffe, but the long and flexible 

 lips would seem to atone for the very weak front teeth. It is prob- 

 ably b}^ the lips and tongue that the creature gathers the leaves on 

 which it feeds, for according to the accounts of the natives it lives 

 entirely on foliage and small twigs. Like all living ruminants (except 

 the camel), it lias no front teeth in the upper jaw. The molars are 

 ver}' like those of the girafle. 



My first examination of the skull and skin of the okapi caused me 

 to name it tentatively " Helladotherium.''' The helladotherium was a 

 giraffe-like animal that existed in the Tertiary epoch in Greece, Asia 

 Minor, and India. In India the helladotherium attained a very great 

 size, but the Greek specimens were not quite as large as the modern 

 giraffe. The helladotherium was hornless, like the okapi, and in 

 another point it resemlded this animal, because the neck was not dis- 

 proportionately long, and the fore and hind limbs were nearly equal 

 in length. The okapi bears on its skull remains of three horn cores, 

 once no doubt as prominent as those in the existing giraffes. The 

 process of degeneration, however, has set in, and in the living okapi 

 the horn cores have been worn down to two small knobs on the fore- 

 head, covered outwardly with little twists of hair, and one less con- 

 spicuous kno)) or bump just between the eyes. Though the okapi 

 bears certain superficial resemblances to the helladotherium, it is prob- 

 able, on the whole, thtit it comes nearest in relationship to the giraffe. 

 Being, however, sufiiciently different from both, it has been constituted 

 l)V Prof. Ray Lankester a separate genus, to which he has given the 

 name Ocapla. 



So far as is yet known, the existing range of the okapi is confined 

 to the northern part of the Kongo forest, near the Semliki River. 

 The okapi is found in the little territory of Mboga, which is an out- 

 lying portion of the I^ganda Protectorate. It is also found in the 

 adjoining territory of the Kongo Free State. This same forest, I 

 l)elieve, conceals other wonders besides the okapi, not yet brought to 

 light, including enormous gorillas. I have seen photographs of these 

 huge apes, taken from dead animals which haAc l)een killed by the 

 natives and })rought in to the Belgians. A careful search might 

 reveal several other strange additions to the world's mammalian 

 fauna. 



Quite recenth^ fossil remains of giraffe-like animals have been found 

 in Lower Egypt, as well as in Arabia, India, Greece, Asia Minor, and 

 southern Europe. It is possible that the okapi and the giraffe are the 

 last two surviving forms of this group in tropical Africa. The giraffe- 

 has escaped extermination at the hands of carnivorous animals by its de- 

 velopment of enormous size and by its wary habits. The giraffe, unlike 



