26 



HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 



THE OKAPI. 



By John D. Hamlyn. 



The arrival of a young live Okapi in Europe 

 is an event which deserves special notice. 



Mr. Lhoest, the Director of The Societe 

 Royale de Zoologie, Antwerp, writes as follows 

 under date 13th August : — . 



"I have pleasure of enclosing you a 

 photo of the young live Okapi we received in 

 perfect condition. 



OKAPI. First living Okaji imported in 

 Europe. The animal arrived safe and in good 

 condition on Saturday, 9th of August by s.s. 

 Anversville, and was presented as a gift to 

 the Zoological Gardens of Antwerp by the 

 District-Commander Landeghem and his wife, 

 Mrs. Landeghem. 



It is a nice specimen, very tame and eat- 

 ing the usual food of ruminants, such as car- 

 rots, clover, etc. 



The scientific zoological world is indebted 

 to Mrs. Landeghem of this sensational impor- 

 tation; this lady, indeed, received the young 

 animal from hunting natives at Buta (Uele, 

 Congo), when it was only one or two days 

 old and by her attentive and in telligent daily 

 cares, she succeeded in bringing up the 

 Okapi. 



The Okapi was brought over to Antwerp 

 by the Congo Territorial Administrator, Dr. 

 Georges Lebrun who, at the same time, im- 

 ported a big lot of other Congo animals, 

 which he also presented to the Antwerp Zoo. 

 Between them are to be mentioned : — 



12 different small Antelopes (principally 

 Duikers). 



3 red River Pigs. 



1 black Wood Pig (Hylochoerus ituri- 



entis). 



2 Leopards. 



2 Colobus Monkeys — beautiful. 



1 Patas Monkey. 



1 young Brazza Monkey. . 



Please note the latest Magazine I re- 

 ceived was that of June past. 



Yours truly, 



The Director, 



M. LH'OEST." 



The Times" gives the following notice : — 



"The Antwerp correspondent of the 'Afri- 

 can World' states that, amongst a great col- 

 lection of wild animals just brought by Dr. 

 Lebrun from the Congo for the depleted Zoo- 

 logical Gardens, is a live Okapi, in fine con- 

 dition, the gift of Mme. Landaghem, who 

 reared it. It is the first live Okapi brought to 

 Europe. 



It have been known for some time past 

 that Mme. Landaghem, whose husband is in 

 the Congo Medical Service, has had a young 

 okapi in her possession for nearly three years, 

 at her husband's quarters, several hundred 

 miles above Boma, on the Congo. Photo- 

 graphs received in Europe showed the young 

 animal feeding out of the hand of its owner. 

 The Zoological Society of London had ar- 

 ranged to purchase this animal for a large 

 sum of money, and has been expecting daily 

 to hear of its arrival at Falmouth. Notwith- 

 standing the disappointment to the London 

 Society, in whose scientific proceedings the 

 okapi was first named, figured, and described, 

 it must be regarded as proper that the owner, 

 a Belgian lady, should have presented the 

 first living example of the rarest of living 

 mammals to the chief zoological collection of 

 her native country. 



"The okapi is the survivor of a distant 

 ancestor of the giraffes. An adult stands 

 about 5ft. high, and although it has the gen- 

 eral shape of a giraffe its neck is relatively 

 shorter and its forelegs are not so high in 

 proportion to the hindquarters. The sides 

 of the face are light fawn, and the general 

 coloration of the body is a dark purplish 

 shade. The most striking character is that 

 the rump and the upper parts of the legs are 

 transversely striped with black and white. 

 When Sir Harry Johnston obtained and sent 

 to the Zoological Society the first news of 

 the discovery of a new large mammal the 

 specimen actually sent was a bandolier cut 

 by natives from the hide. The animal to 

 which it belonged was inferred to be an un- 

 known species of zebra, and the name bes- 

 towed on it was accordingly Equus johnstoni. 

 In 1901 Sir Harry was able to send a com- 

 plete skin, and the real affinities of the crea- 

 ture were ascertained. It is a native of the 

 Semliki Forest, and haunts low undergrowth 

 and swamps." 



Here is a notice from a Belgian paper : — 



"This new acquisition (says the 'Action 

 Nationale' of Antwerp) is certainly a strange 

 animal, occupying a place in the ruminant 



