ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 

 BULLETIN 



SFP 5 

 Published by the New York Zoological Society^ 



Volume XXII 



JULY, 1919 



Number 4 



AN OKAPI REARED IN CAPTIVITY 

 A Belgian Woman First To Achieve Success 



By Herbert Lang, F.Z.S., 

 Asst. Curator, Department Mammalogy, American Museum Natural History. 



JN i letter from Faradje (L T ele, Belgian Con- 

 go) dated April 2, 1919, one of the most 

 obliging Belgian friends of the Congo Expe- 

 dition of The American Museum of Natural 

 History, the Hon. Charles Smets, communicates 

 some interesting notes on the rare okapi. The 

 readers of the Bulletin, who perhaps remem- 

 ber the article on the okapi in last year's May 

 number, may welcome additional information on 

 the subject. 



The members of the Congo Expedition always 

 shared Dr. Hornaday's belief in the possibility 

 of rearing a young okapi in captivity, provided 

 there was a sufficient supply of milk during the 

 early period and we have already described 

 how through the lack of milk we lost the young 

 okapi captured alive in the heart of Africa for 

 the New York Zoological Park. We are there- 

 fore delighted to hear that what to many seemed 

 impossible has now been successfully accom- 

 plished. 



Judge Smets was greatly surprised recently 

 to see a nearly full-grown female okapi, which 

 to all appearances had made its home in the 

 Post at Buta, in the L'ele. Inquiry revealed that 

 it had been caught when young by the natives 

 and reared on the bottle by Mrs. Landeghem, 

 tin District Commissioner's courageous and re- 

 soureeful wife. Through her devotion and pa- 

 tience the animal grew up astonishingly well 

 and tame. Think of an okapi considered by 

 all the shyest of forest animals, walking freely 

 and fearlessly about the Post, where hundreds 

 of natives come and go. This okapi even gath- 

 ered much of its own food. It loved to browse 

 upon the bushes of exotic rose mallows ( Hibis- 

 cus) and especially on croton (1'Iiyllaurea) , 



planted all over the Post for decorative pur- 

 poses, the latter on account of the variegated 

 glossy leaves. Sweet potato leaves, thrown into 

 the stable where the okapi spent the night, 

 also seem to have been partly responsible for 

 its healthy growth. Strange though this disclos- 

 ure may seem, it is very encouraging with regard 

 to the possibility of keeping okapis alive in 

 captivity, and at the same time verifies our field 

 observations, upon which we based the state- 

 ment that Okapis feed on many kinds of bushes 

 and .ire by no means restricted to one species 

 of plant, on the occurrence of which some nat- 

 uralists have tried to explain the okapis limited 

 range. 



Judge Smets made another curious observa- 

 tion. As in the giraffe, the okapi's prehensile 

 tongue is the means by which the leaves are 

 grasped and introduced into the mouth without 

 aid from the lips, which are closely attached to 

 the skull, although heavy and readily movable 

 in the giraffe and camel. But this tongue per- 

 forms even more remarkable feats. Occasionally 

 the flexible, muscular tip is called upon to reach 

 far backwards to relieve the eyes of the annoy- 

 ance of flies and to remove impurities lodged 

 therein. 



Mrs. Landeghem deserves the hearty congrat- 

 ulations of all naturalists for so successful an 

 enterprise, she being the first to rear an okapi 

 for though several were previously captured, 

 they have all perished. During a time when 

 her country was passing through so many trials 

 she endeavored to add a new jewel to the Bel- 

 gian Zoological Garden in Antwerp, which will 

 now be the first to have the honor of exhibiting 

 a live okapi. Mr. Lebrun, an official of the 



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