Great job Jayc
it is indeed a picture of an Okapi
As this picture shows, it has a long tongue just like the giraffes and can get up to about 18 inches. HEHEHE if humans had that long of tongue think the girls will want oral more often.
As you can see the long tongue is so long that the Okapi can actually groom their own ears by themselves without having to rely on the other Okapi to do it for them.
Jayc was right about it being a relative of the Giraffe family (Giraffidae). It actually is the only known living relative of the giraffe alive. All the other relatives went extinct a long time ago. Even though it has more of a horse body and zebra backside, these characteristics just help the animal in it's location of the Democratic Republic of Congo forests to help blend into the surroundings.
At one time, it was thought that the Okapi was nocturnal, but they have found out that they are diurnal (active during the day).
Something interesting about this animal is that they can eat some poisonous fungi. They think because of the toxin intake that the Okapi will eat the charcoal off burned trees, for it is antidote for toxins.
A baby Okapi is a nester (stays in one spot) and waits for mother to come feed and take care of the baby. The mother only comes to the baby when it is time for nursing, for what I've heard from one of the keepers at the zoo, it helps reduce the scent around where the baby is and helps protect the baby from any predators around. Another thing I learned from the keepers when we had our first baby Okapi at the zoo, the baby won't defecate for the first month or so which is when the baby is in the intensive part of its nesting. The mother can talk to the baby by using infrasound communications which is too low for us to hear, and this communication is also used by the Elephants for their chit chatting.
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