ZooWeird 56

A doggerel series about odd or little-known animals.

Okapi:  A beautiful, strange looking giraffid artiodactyl mammal. Despite what the zebra-like patterns would have you think, the two animals are not closely related. Actually, giraffes are the closest extant relative of O. johnstoni. Okapis are considered by many scientists to be living fossils because they have changed little over their lifetime as a species. The species is endemic to the Ituri Rainforest, in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa. Okapis are primarily found in altitudes ranging from 500 to 1,000m, but sometimes individuals venture in higher altitudes at the eastern montane rainforests. Sightings are most common in the Wamba and Epulu regions. (All animal info from http://www.strangeanimals.info/2010/10/okapi.html#ixzz4WbAPC3PS)

Okapis live in Africa—

Are kin to the giraffe.

If you guessed “zebra,” you are wrong—

Yes, wrong by more than half.

They reproduce a clever way—

Though minus all the fun.

A mate gets killed? Well, they just say,

“I’ll .. well … oh, copy one!”