DISCOVERY AM) HKLATfOXsl/l I'S OF 77//; OKAI'f 7:. 



Ill tin- I'lKiractci- (if liinli> and l('iii;lli of neck llic ()ka|)i <linVr.s little IVoiii 

 the ordinary tyi)t> of niiniiiant, as for cxainph^ a dicr or an antelope. Al- 

 thougli it ditVers widely in external ai)]H'ai-anee from the f;iralle -whicli has 

 elongated linihsand eiuuinoiisly lengthened eerxieal xcrtehra', the stnietiiro 

 of thesknll and teeth show it to he a ineniherof t he uii-aH'e family. It has 

 also two small frontal horns, somewhat similar to those of the fi;irafi'e hut 

 less (leveloi)e(l, dilVerinu' in this respect from ordinary ruminants. The lips 

 are not prehensile and its small eyes <ii\-e the head somewhat the a|)i)earatiee 

 of that of a dee]-. The colored plate of the oka])i sulliciently indicates its 

 general appeai'ance in respect to foi'm and jx-culiar coloration. 



The okapi is said to Ii\-e in paii's in the (le])ths of the forest and to feed 

 on the leaves of the undergnnvth. I'p to a recent date it was said that no 

 white man had ever seen the living okapi in its native haunts, or was likely 

 to, as it is extremely wary and shy, and nocturnal in its hahits. Tlu; speci- 

 mens taken have all been captin-ed hy the nati\-es, who are said to he able 

 sometimes to steal up to the animals and kill them with spears, but usually 

 they take them in traps. Sir Harry Johnston, in an acco\mt of his trip to 

 the Congo Forest for okapi, thus speaks of its haunts: "Provided with 

 guides, we entered the awesome depths of the Congo Forest. For se\eral 

 days we searched foi- the oka))i, but in vain. We were shown its supposed 

 tracks by the nati\"es .... The atmosphere of the forest was almost un- 

 breatheable with its Turkish-bath heat, its reeking moisture, and its powerful 

 smell of decaying, rotting \(\gctation. ^Ye seemed, in fact, to be trans- 

 ported I)ack to ^Miocene times, to an age and a climate scarcely suitalile 

 for the modern type of real humanity. Severe attacks of fever prostrated 

 not only the Europeans but all the black men of the j)arty, and we were 

 obliged to give up the search and return to the grass-Umds with such frag- 

 ments of the skin as T had been able to purchase from the natives." 



It was on the borders of such a region that the members of the American 

 Museum Congo Kxi)edition, undcM- the leadership of Ih^rbert Lang and 

 James Chapin, camped for nearly six months and were successful in obtain- 

 ing specimens of the okai)i and the n(>cessary accessories for a large realistic 

 group of these animals for this Museum. While the Congo Expedition is 

 to be congratulated on the results of its laborious efforts, these were 

 rendered possible only through the generous and hearty cooperation of 

 the offic-ials of the ( ongo Free State under most favorable instructions from 

 the Belgian Ciovernment. AH the specimens w<>re traj)])ed by the natives by 

 means of nooses set in the "teri-il)l<' swamps'" of the (Jrcat Congo Forest. 



