ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1605 



TRIE TO LIFE AND IN ITS NATIVE ENVIRONMENT 

 This is an exceptionally fine study of a still fresh Okapi 



our native assistants, and finally, as news of 

 the Okapi arrived, I ran out day by day. crossed 

 swamps and rivers as they themselves did. slept 

 in the forest, and joined their hunting parties 

 even in the dead of night. I had but two por- 

 ters with me. one for my camera and the other 

 for my necessary camp outfit, an equipment so 

 meager that a Belgian officer laughingly called 

 it "the tablet-form outfit." This gave us a rep- 

 utation with the natives and our absolute fair- 

 ness with them secured their confidence. 



Having walked more than a thousand miles 

 in the tracks of the Okapi. I unhesitatingly 

 state that a great wariness and nocturnal hab- 

 its efficiently protect it from being successfully 

 stalked by white men. Those who can right- 

 fully claim to have seen a living Okapi. or shot 

 one, have been so favored quite accidentally. 

 During the day it rests, but sometimes moves 

 when storms rage and falling leaves and 

 branchlets drown the usual noises. The Okapi 

 is a typical browser, feeding generally by night, 

 often while rambling with a companion. The 

 female invariably takes the lead, her ears alert 

 for the slightest suspicious sound. Towards 

 morning they leave the hills and move in the 

 direction of the swampy regions, with dense, 

 almost impenetrable thickets. The clear brooks, 

 often flowing over beds of firm, white sand, are 

 thus frequented, and, when shallow, are used by 

 natives as paths and followed for miles by the 

 Okapi. As the sun rises they return to the hills. 

 and. without seeking shade or concealment, rest 



wherever they happen to be. apparently never 

 twice in the same place. They spend by far the 

 greater portion of time in the higher and drier 

 parts of the forest where trees are taller and 

 more scattered. The undergrowth here is open, 

 permitting porters with their loads to pass with- 

 out much trouble, and the ground is covered 

 with only a thin layer of dry leaves and sticks 

 since numerous colonies of termites rapidly 

 transform dead vegetable matter into soil which 

 is washed away by the torrential rains. So re- 

 markably regular are their habits that the na- 

 tives picturesquely state that each pair of Oka- 

 pi has its own village. Trails, leading to one 

 of the numerous brooks, are sometimes a foot 

 or more wide and have given rise to stories ot 

 large herds. The truth is that in their northern 

 range, during a dry season of several months, 

 tracks made daily by one or two Okapi remain 

 unchanged, and due to the moisture in these 

 swamps, retain their original freshness. 



Though food is abundant, the Okapi, wher- 

 ever it stops, clears the bushes of all foliage 

 within reach, often breaking saplings and 

 branches down, much as giant elands do. and 

 in these attempts tears off from the tip of the 

 horn the covering of hairy skin. It has been 

 suggested that the distribution of the Okapi co- 

 incides with that of the broad-leaved, maranta- 

 ceous marsh plant, phrynium. the tender shoots 

 of which are used as fodder for the mules of 

 officials. However, we know that the food plants 

 of the Okapi are a few common species of trees 

 and bushes, and so are safe in concluding that 



OKAPI TRACK IN SOFT' GROUND 



[any travelers claimed that the Okapi inhabits swamps, 



yet the small, well worn, cloven hoofs alone would prove 



the general hardness of the trails frequented. 



