![]() Rumors that the strange foal is cursed spread and before long he is blamed for the drought that sets into the Great Karoo. As well, check out their ears! Yep, those are the same, large ears that a Giraffe has, which help them hear even the slightest sound, so don’t try sneaking up behind an Okapi. In South Africa within the Great Karoo, a half-striped zebra named Khumba is born into an insular isolated herd of all-striped zebras where hes raised by his sick mother Lungisa and his father & the herds leader, Seko. You still don’t believe that they are a member of the Giraffe family? Take a close look at the mouth of the Okapi, you will notice they share the same dark, prehensile tongue as their cousins, which helps them strip the buds and leaves off the trees. Although the black and white stripes on an okapis back legs are similar to that of a zebra - they are not related to the zebra. They have vegetation all around them! No, They Really Are Related to Giraffes As well, regular giraffes need the long neck to feed on the leaves of tall trees but this isn’t the case for our short-necked giraffe. Throughout evolution they have developed a shorter neck to allow them additional mobility in the thick forest. ![]() ![]() You may be asking yourself how can the Okapi be a member of the giraffe family….they don’t have a long neck?!? Perhaps they would have a longer neck if they lived in a different environment but a super, duper long neck just wouldn’t work in the dense Rainforest. This makes our Giraffe-like friend perfectly adapted to a life in the Rainforest. Maybe they are able to hide but how do they handle all of the rain? Do you see that their reddish-colour fur on their backs? Besides being incredibly soft, this fur is also very oily, which basically waterproofs the Okapi as the water just rolls of their back. The Okapi’s stripes make them very difficult to see in an environment that is dominated by alternating patterns of sunlight and shadows. So how does the Okapi handle these challenges? Well, first of all, they trick their would be predators by blending into the surroundings. Sure you have an abundance of food and your surroundings are beautiful but you also have to deal with an abundance of predators and a ton of rain. Life in the Rainforest isn’t always the easiest.
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