OKAPI
, the native name of an See also:African ruminant mammal (Ocapia jahnstoni), belonging to the Giraffidae, or See also:giraffe-See also:family, but distinguished from giraffes by its shorter limbs and See also:neck, the See also:absence of horns in the See also:females, and its very remarkable type of colouring
.
Its See also:affinity with the giraffes is, however, clearly revealed by the structure of the See also:skull and See also:teeth, more especially the bilobed See also:crown to the incisor-like See also:lower canine teeth
.
At the See also:shoulder the okapi stands about 5 ft
.
In See also:colour the sides of the See also:face are puce, and the neck and most of the See also:body purplish, but the buttocks and upper See also:part of both fore and See also:hind limbs are transversely barred with See also:black and See also:- WHITE
- WHITE, ANDREW DICKSON (1832– )
- WHITE, GILBERT (1720–1793)
- WHITE, HENRY KIRKE (1785-1806)
- WHITE, HUGH LAWSON (1773-1840)
- WHITE, JOSEPH BLANCO (1775-1841)
- WHITE, RICHARD GRANT (1822-1885)
- WHITE, ROBERT (1645-1704)
- WHITE, SIR GEORGE STUART (1835– )
- WHITE, SIR THOMAS (1492-1567)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM ARTHUR (1824--1891)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (1845– )
- WHITE, THOMAS (1628-1698)
- WHITE, THOMAS (c. 1550-1624)
white, while their, lower portion is mainly white with black fetlock-rings, and in the front pair.a See also:vertical black stripe on the anterior See also:surface
.
See also:Males have a. pair of See also:dagger-shaped horns on the. forehead, the tips of which, in some cases at any See also:rate, perforate the hairy skin with which the See also:rest of the horns, are covered
.
As in all See also:forest-dwelling animals, the ears are large and capacious
.
The tail is shorter than in giraffes, and not tufted at the tip
.
The okapi, of which the first entire skin sent to See also:Europe was received in See also:England from See also:Sir H
.
H
.
See also:Johnston in the See also:spring of 19oi, is a native of the Semliki forest, in the See also:district between Lakes See also:Albert and Albert See also:Edward
.
From certain See also:differences in the striping of the legs, as well as from variation in skull-characters, the existence of more than a single See also:species has been suggested; but further See also:evidence is required. before such a view can be definitely accepted
.
Specimens in the museum at See also:Tervueren near See also:Brussels show that in fully adult males the horns are subtriangular and inclined somewhat backwards; each being capped with a small polished epiphysis, which projects through the skin investing the rest of See also:flat See also:horn
.
As regards its See also:general characters, the skull of theokapi appears to be intermediate between that of the giraffe on the one See also:hand and that of the See also:extinct Palaeotragus (or Sanios the,riun) of the Lower See also:Pliocene deposits of See also:southern Europe on the other
.
It has, for instance, a greater development of See also:air-cells in the diploe than in the latter, but much less than in the former
.
Again, in Palaeotragus the horns (See also:present only in the male) are situated immediately over the See also:eye-sockets, in Ocapia they are placed just behind the latter, while in Girafa they are partly. on the parietals
.
In general See also:form, so far as can be judged from the disarticulated See also:skeleton, the okapi was more like an See also:antelope than a giraffe, the fore and hind See also:cannon-bones, and consequently the entire limbs, being of approximately equal length
.
From this it seems probable that Palaeotragus and Ocapia indicate the ancestral type of the giraffe-See also:line; while it has been further suggested that the apparently hornless Helladotherium of the
See also:Female Okapi
.
Grecian Pliocene may occupy a somewhat similar position in regard to the horned Sivatherium of the See also:Indian Siwaliks
.
For these and other allied extinct genera see PECOan; for a full description of the okapi itself the reader should refer to an illustrated memoir by Sir E
.
See also:Ray Lankester in the Transactions of the Zoological Society of See also:London (xvi
.
6, 1902), entitled " On Okapia, a New Genus of Giraffidae from Central See also:Africa."
Little is known with regard to the habits of the okapi
.
It appears, however, from the observations of Dr J
.
See also:David, who spent, some See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time in the Albert Edward district, that the creature dwells in the most dense parts of the primeval forest, where there is an undergrowth of solid-leaved, swamp-loving See also:plants, such as arum, See also:Don ax and Phrynium, which, with See also:orchids and climbing plants, form a thick and confused See also:mass of vegetation
.
The leaves of these plants are blackish-See also:green, and in the gloom of the forest, grow more or less horizontally, and are glistening with moisture
.
The effect of the See also:light falling upon them is to produce along the midrib of each a number of See also:short white streaks of light, which-contrast most strongly with the shadows See also:cast by the leaves themselves, and with the general See also:twilight gloom of the forest
.
On the other hand, the thick layer of fallen leaves on the ground, and the bulk of the stems of the forest trees are bluish-See also:- BROWN
- BROWN, CHARLES BROCKDEN (1771-181o)
- BROWN, FORD MADOX (1821-1893)
- BROWN, FRANCIS (1849- )
- BROWN, GEORGE (1818-188o)
- BROWN, HENRY KIRKE (1814-1886)
- BROWN, JACOB (1775–1828)
- BROWN, JOHN (1715–1766)
- BROWN, JOHN (1722-1787)
- BROWN, JOHN (1735–1788)
- BROWN, JOHN (1784–1858)
- BROWN, JOHN (1800-1859)
- BROWN, JOHN (1810—1882)
- BROWN, JOHN GEORGE (1831— )
- BROWN, ROBERT (1773-1858)
- BROWN, SAMUEL MORISON (1817—1856)
- BROWN, SIR GEORGE (1790-1865)
- BROWN, SIR JOHN (1816-1896)
- BROWN, SIR WILLIAM, BART
- BROWN, THOMAS (1663-1704)
- BROWN, THOMAS (1778-1820)
- BROWN, THOMAS EDWARD (1830-1897)
- BROWN, WILLIAM LAURENCE (1755–1830)
brown and russet, thus closely resembling the decaying leaves in an See also:European forest after heavy See also:rain; while the whole effect is precisely similar to that produced by the russet See also:head and body and the striped thighs and limbs of the okapi
.
The See also:long and See also:mobile muzzle of the okapi appears to be adapted for feeding
on the See also:low forest underwood and the swamp-vegetation
.
The small See also:size of the horns of the males is probably also an See also:adaptation to See also:life in thick underwood
.
In Dr David's See also: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 See also:equatorial forests, and it is very difficult to do so even at this short distance
.
This suggests that the colouring of the okapi is of purely protective type
.
By the Arabianized emancipated slaves of the Albert Edward district the okapi is known as the kenge, 6-a-pi being the Pigmies' name for the creature
.
Dr David adds that See also:Junker may undoubtedly claim to be the discoverer of the okapi, for, as stated on p
.
299 of the third See also:volume of the See also:original See also:German edition of his Travels, he saw in 1878 or 1899 in the Nepo district a portion of the skin with the characteristic black and white stripes
.
Junker, by whom it was mistaken for a large See also:water-See also:chevrotain or See also:zebra-antelope, states that to the natives of the Nepo district the okapi is known as the makape
.
(R
.
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