The males try to keep other males out of their territories but allow females to travel through in search of food. Both male and female okapis are most active during the afternoon through the evening. Okapis use their prehensile tongue to get food by pulling leaves from trees and into their mouth.
The tongue is also an important grooming tool, helping to keep the velvety soft, short coat in tip-top shape. Okapis have also been seen eating clay and burnt charcoal, probably for minerals. And just like giraffes, sheep, and goats, okapis are ruminants. I smell you: While okapis travel for the most part by themselves within their home ranges, they still have ways of communicating with others whose ranges overlap.
A scent gland on each foot leaves behind a sticky, tar-like substance wherever they have walked, marking their territory. Okapis have a great sense of smell. By checking the ground, an okapi can tell if another okapi has been there. Males also mark their territory by urine spraying.
Normally silent, female okapis vocalize only when they are ready to breed. Okapi newborns can stand up within 30 minutes of birth and nurse for the first time within an hour of birth. They have the same coloring as an adult but have a short fringe of hair along the spine, which generally disappears by the time they are 12 to 14 months old. Mothers hide their newborn calves in a safe, secluded spot, returning regularly to allow the calf to nurse.
This helps keep predators from finding a hidden newborn until it has had a chance to grow and gain strength. An okapi calf starts trying solid food at just three weeks old. Calves triple their size by the end of their second month but do not reach full adult size until three years of age. They selectively feed on fast-growing, light-dependent plants.
All rights reserved. Contact Us Email the librarians at library sdzwa. The ankles are white and have dark spot above each hoof. Tongue: One of the most striking features is the tongue, which is very long and black in color. It can reach and grab the higher branches of trees and can pull them down. Okapis are native to and are found mainly in the north-eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo. These mammals are generally found at an altitude varying between and 1, meters.
Though Okapis are thought to be found abundantly in their native region, but they have severely been threatened by habitat loss mostly through deforestation. The Okapis prefer areas where there is slow-moving fresh water source.
In the present day, almost one-fifth of this rainforest is made up of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, which has been declared as a World Heritage Site. Okapis are herbivorous animals, and their diet includes more than species of plants. They live only on plant matters like leaves, twigs, shoots, berries, fruits etc. These animals even eat fungi occasionally. Amongst the plants they consume, there are even species of poisonous plants which are fatal to other animals and humans.
Okapis also eat a particular type of reddish clay, which provide them essential minerals and salts. Okapis are not gregarious creatures. They are generally found roaming around the forest independently.
However, okapis are known to tolerate other individuals and can spend a short period of time feeding in groups. Although, the mother spends time moving around with the okapi baby. Okapis are gentle creatures and extremely shy and timid by nature. They are diurnal beings. They rely heavily upon their sharp sense of hearing, since they are not able to see very far at all in the forest.
During daytime, Okapis spend long hours in search of food. They are territorial by nature. The males tend to mark larger territories than the females. Population size. Life Span. Photos with Okapi. Distribution Okapis live throughout the central, eastern and northern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as east and north of the Congo River.
Geography Continents. Sub-Saharan Africa. DR Congo. Biome Tropical moist forests. Climate zones Tropical. Habits and Lifestyle Okapis are diurnal, being most active in the daytime, spending most of their time travelling along set paths within the forest foraging.
Group name. Terrestrial, Precocial, Cursorial, Migratory. Diet and Nutrition Okapis are mainly herbivores, they eat the leaves, shoots and buds of over species of forest vegetation.
Diet Herbivore. Population Trend. Endangered EN.
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