506 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Okapi (Eng., Fr., Ger.) 



OKAPIA JOHNSTONI (P. L. Sclater) 



Equus(t) johnstoni P. L. Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1901, vol. 1, p. 50, 

 1901. ("In sylvis fluvio Semliki adjacentibus," presumably in the vicinity 

 of Mbeni (or Beni), northeastern Belgian Congo.) 



SYNONYMS: Helladotherium tigrinum Johnston (1901); Okapia liebrechtsi 

 Major (1902); Okapia erikssoni Lankester (1902). 



FIGS.: P. L. Sclater, 1901, pi. 1; Cornish, 1901, vol. 1, pp. 269-270, figs.; 

 Johnston, 1902, vol. 1, frontisp. and p. 381, fig. 234; Lankester, 1902, 

 pi. 30; Fraipont, Annales Mus. Congo, zool., ser. 2, vol. 1, pis. l-2 ter , 

 and pp. 7-19, 23-32, 96, figs. 1-13, 22-42, 77, 1907; Lydekker, 1908, pp. 

 377, 383, figs. 78, 80; Rothschild and Neuville, Annales Sci. Nat., zool., 

 ser. 9, vol. 10, pi. 1, and p. 6, fig. 1, 1909; Lankester and Ridewood, 1910, 

 pis. 1, 29-47; Ber. Senckenb. Naturf. Gesell., vol. 43, pi. 5, pp. 290-291, 

 figs.; Lydekker and Blaine, 1914, vol. 3, p. 262, fig. 49; Selous, 1914, pi. 

 7; Lang, 1918, pp. 1600-1611, figs.; Christy, 1924, figs. 31-38; Leplae, 

 1925, p. 108, figs.; Rev. Zool. Bot. Africaine, vol. 16, suppl.: Bull. Cercle 

 Zool. Congolais, vol. 5, fasc. 3, pp. [71]-[73], figs., 1928; Rev. Zool. Bot. 

 Africaine, vol. 29, suppl.: Bull. Cercle Zool. Congolais, vol. 13, fasc. 1, p. 

 (14), fig., 1936; Pocock, 1937, p. 691, fig.; Reed and Lucas, 1937, p. 185, 

 fig. 65. 



The Okapi leads such an extremely secretive life in the equatorial 

 rain forest of the Upper Congo that estimates of its numerical 

 strength are very difficult to make. These estimates vary from 

 500-600 (Leplae, 1925, p. 109) to "some thousands" (J. P. Chapin, 

 oral communication, February, 1938). Attilio Gatti (MS., 1936) 

 believes that about a thousand are killed each year but that the 

 animal is largely safeguarded by the fact that a very considerable 

 proportion of its range in the forest depths is not penetrated even 

 by the natives. 



"Size much smaller than in Girafja, and neck and limbs much less 

 elongated; females larger than males, which alone carry a pair of 

 frontal horns, capped with knobs of bare bone; ears broad; . . . 

 tail shorter than in typical genus [Giraffa], with a smaller tuft." 

 "Sides of face pale puce; crown, backs of ears, neck, and greater 

 part of body plum-colour; sides of buttocks and upper portion of 

 limbs transversely barred with black and white stripes of varying 

 width ; shanks mainly white, with black fetlock rings, and a vertical 

 black stripe on anterior surfaces of front pair." "Shoulder-height in 

 females about 5 feet 4 inches." (Lydekker and Blaine, 1914, vol. 3, 

 pp. 258-259.) 



The first fragment of an Okapi 's skin was made known to science 

 only in 1900. Such a recent discovery of so large and striking a 

 creature constitutes one of the chief romances of modern mam- 

 malogy. 



Information in regard to its total range has accumulated rather 



