Are zebras with black stripes black12/30/2023 The Okapi Conservation Project works in the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo to protect the natural habitat of both the endangered okapi and the indigenous Mbuti pygmies living in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. "Currently, regional governments have enacted laws to protect habitat and increase monitoring of the areas okapis inhabit." "Their biggest threats are mining, oil and gas drilling, residential and commercial development, expanding agriculture and logging," says Schwartz. The population also is continuing to decrease, with only 25,000 believed to be alive in the wild today. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the okapi as endangered because the rate of population decline is estimated to have exceeded 50 percent during the past 24 years. And, thanks to that extra-long tongue, the okapi is one of the only mammals in the world that can lick its own ears! Finally, they each have a super-long, prehensile, flexible bluish tongue that's ideal for plucking leaves from trees and shrubs. Next, their skulls are almost identical, except the okapi's is smaller. First off, they both have long necks, cloven hooves and short, skin-covered horns. In reality, however, the okapi's closest relative is the giraffe (it's even sometimes called a "forest giraffe"), and the two animals - aside from belonging to the same scientific genus, the Giraffoidea family - have several connections. And that's a really good guess, especially since it has the body of a horse - at about 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall, and between 440 to 660 pounds (199 to 299 kilograms) - and its hindquarters are clad in reddish-brown and cream stripes. Upon first seeing an okapi (pronounced oh-COP-ee), many people assume this beautiful and unusual animal is related to a zebra. Tier Und Naturfotografie J und C/Getty Images The okapi ( Okapia johnstoni) has the head of a giraffe, the body of a horse and the stripes of a zebra.
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