OKAP2 38 1 



closely resembling the decaying leaves in a European forest after 

 heavy rain ; while the whole effect is precisely similar to that produced 

 by the russet head and body and the striped thighs and limbs of the 

 okapi. 



" The long and mobile muzzle of the okapi appears to be adapted 

 for feeding on the low forest underwood and the swamp vegetation. 

 The small size of the horns of the males is probably also an adaptation 

 to life in thick underwood through which the creature stalks with 

 outstretched neck, the silence of the forest being broken only by the 

 plash of falling moisture or the occasional scream of the hornbill." 



In Dr. David's opinion an okapi in its native forest could not be 

 seen at a distance of more than twenty or twenty-five paces. At 

 distances greater than this it is impossible to see anything clearly in 

 these equatorial forests, and it is very difficult to do so even at this 

 short distance. If these observations are trustworthy, we have definite 

 evidence that the colouring of the okapi is of a purely protective type, 

 as, indeed, has long been suspected. 



In a letter from the Congo Free State, published in the Times at 

 a later date, Major P. H. G. Powell-Cotton stated that a fine okapi, of 

 which the skin and skeleton are now in the British Museum, was 

 killed at Makala, in the Ituri forest, by the native hunter Agukki, who 

 shot the two specimens taken to Europe by Dr. David. After careful 

 inquiry, Major Powell-Cotton was unable to satisfy himself that any 

 European has hitherto killed an okapi. A Swiss official named 

 Jeannet, in the employ of the Congo Government, was, however, in 

 1905 shown one of these animals by a native as it stood in thick 

 covert, where it was shot by the latter. This the writer believes to 

 be the first living okapi seen by a European. 



According to information furnished by the Mobatti Pigmies, 

 the okapi is generally a solitary animal, the two members of a pair 

 invariably feeding apart, although, together with their single calf, they 

 may frequent the same section of the forest. The calf, which is born 

 in May, is left hidden in covert by the female, who returns to it at 

 intervals for feeding purposes. Hearing and smell are very acute in 

 the okapi, so that the sound of an axe or the faintest scent of man 

 drives it from its feeding-grounds into the depths of the forest. Even 

 when feeding it is restless, and it seldom reposes long in the same lair. 

 In the Ituri forest these animals avoid swampy ground, and always 

 drink from clear running streams. During rain they seek shelter in 

 the densest thickets or even under an abandoned roof, and it is at 

 such times that they arc most usually seen by the natives. 



