Rare giraffe-like animal "rediscovered" in Congo park

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060609/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_environment_okapi

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Delighted conservationists said on Friday that they had found conclusive proof of the existence of a rare giraffe-like creature in Congo's Virunga National Park that has defied the odds of survival in a region battered by savage conflict.


First discovered in what is now Virunga in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 1901, the shy forest-dwelling okapi had not been found in the park since 1959.

It was known to be present elsewhere in the Congo, but there were concerns it had gone extinct in the place of its discovery because of violence and lawlessness.

But a recent survey of the area by conservation group WWF and the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) found 17 okapi tracks and other evidence of its presence.

No sightings of the elusive animal, which resembles a cross between a giraffe and a zebra with a striped behind and legs and a long neck, were made but its tracks were taken as absolute proof of the creature's recent activity in the park.

[CottonBear]

1. Great news! I hope the animal can be conserved and allowed to flourish.

:)

[elehhhhna]

8. There are 1 or 2 at the Waco (!) Zoo -- they

must exist elsewhere or breed really well in captivity.

[Cocoa]

2. they can lick their own ears

so sez Wikipedia...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okapi

The tongue of an okapi is long enough for the animal to wash its eyelids and clean its ears: it is one of the few mammals that can lick its own ears.

[CottonBear]

11. THAT is a cool ability!

Okapis are really amazing animals!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. okapi

[hedda_foil]

4. OMG -- A zebraff

[leftchick]

6. thank you for the photo

I knew I had seen this creature before.

[aquart]

7. Oh, my goodness.

I wish it well.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Amazing! Now if only they could find surviving quagga ...

http://www.quaggaproject.org/

[sugapablo]

9. Looks like a giraffe and a zebra got busy one night... :)

:D

[mod mom]

10. We have okapi at the Columbus Zoo. If ever there was an example of

evolution-the okapi are it.

[xchrom]

12. now to me -- that's exciting news.