382 GIRAFFE GROUP 



In the ItLiri forest the okapi does not eat the giant leaves of 

 SaropJiryniiim arnoldiamun, which Major Powell -Cotton believes to 

 be the plant alluded to by Captain Alexander in the following account 

 of the animal in the Welle district. 



During the Alexander-Gosling expedition through Nigeria to the 

 Congo, the skin of a male okapi was procured, which is now exhibited 

 in the British Museum (Natural History). The following particulars 

 regarding okapi were communicated by Captain Alexander to the 

 Times : — 



" The okapi here is generally found singly or in pairs, but Mobatti 

 hunters state that sometimes three may be found together. An 

 essential to the life of the okapi is a small stream of water with some 

 muddy and swampy ground on either side. In this grows a certain 

 large leaf that on its single stalk attains a height of lo feet. It is 

 the young leaf of this plant that is the favourite food of the okapi, 

 and I venture to say that where the plant is not to be found the 

 animal will not exist. During the night it will wander along in the 

 mud and water in search of it. Here it may be found feeding as late 

 as eight in the morning, after which it retires to the seclusion of the 

 forest, where it remains until nearly dusk. On the three occasions 

 that I was at close quarters with the beast, it was perfectly concealed 

 in this swamp leaf. Near the river Welle I found its spoor on ground 

 frequented by buffalo and waterbuck, but this is unusual ; and its 

 companions in the forest are the elephant, the greater bushbuck 

 [bongo], and the yellow-backed and small red duikers. The okapi 

 is very quick of hearing, and in that respect is classed by the Mobatti 

 with the bushbuck (local name ' bungana '). In the forest here I 

 consider the latter more difficult to obtain than the former. On the 

 hunting-ground of the first village I visited I estimated the number 

 of okapi at five or six, at the second and third nil ; and twenty miles 

 south in the forest, on very likely ground, where my guide said they 

 were formerly numerous, there was one only, probably owing to 

 rubber-collectors who had been there." 



Several specimens had been speared, shot, or trapped by natives 

 shortly before the time of Captain Alexander's visit, but time did not 

 admit of further investigation. 



At the British Association meeting of 1907 there were exhibited 

 photographs of a living fawn of the okapi taken by Mr. Ribotti at 

 Bambili, in the Congo Free State. Mr. Ribotti claimed to be the first 

 European to see a living specimen of this animal, and it seems well 

 established that he is the only one who has hitherto secured a 



