OKAPI , the native name of an See also:African ruminant mammal (Ocapia jahnstoni), belonging to the Giraffidae, or See also:giraffe-See also:family, but distinguished from giraffes by its shorter limbs and See also:neck, the See also:absence of horns in the See also:females, and its very remarkable type of colouring. Its See also:affinity with the giraffes is, however, clearly revealed by the structure of the See also:skull and See also:teeth, more especially the bilobed See also:crown to the incisor-like See also:lower canine teeth. At the See also:shoulder the okapi stands about 5 ft. In See also:colour the sides of the See also:face are puce, and the neck and most of the See also:body purplish, but the buttocks and upper See also:part of both fore and See also:hind limbs are transversely barred with See also:black and See also:- WHITE
- WHITE, ANDREW DICKSON (1832– )
- WHITE, GILBERT (1720–1793)
- WHITE, HENRY KIRKE (1785-1806)
- WHITE, HUGH LAWSON (1773-1840)
- WHITE, JOSEPH BLANCO (1775-1841)
- WHITE, RICHARD GRANT (1822-1885)
- WHITE, ROBERT (1645-1704)
- WHITE, SIR GEORGE STUART (1835– )
- WHITE, SIR THOMAS (1492-1567)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM ARTHUR (1824--1891)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (1845– )
- WHITE, THOMAS (1628-1698)
- WHITE, THOMAS (c. 1550-1624)
white, while their, lower portion is mainly white with black fetlock-rings, and in the front pair.a See also:vertical black stripe on the anterior See also:surface. See also:Males have a. pair of See also:dagger-shaped horns on the. forehead, the tips of which, in some cases at any See also:rate, perforate the hairy skin with which the See also:rest of the horns, are covered. As in all See also:forest-dwelling animals, the ears are large and capacious. The tail is shorter than in giraffes, and not tufted at the tip. The okapi, of which the first entire skin sent to See also:Europe was received in See also:England from See also:Sir H. H. See also:Johnston in the See also:spring of 19oi, is a native of the Semliki forest, in the See also:district between Lakes See also:Albert and Albert See also:Edward. From certain See also:differences in the striping of the legs, as well as from variation in skull-characters, the existence of more than a single See also:species has been suggested; but further See also:evidence is required. before such a view can be definitely accepted.
Specimens in the museum at See also:Tervueren near See also:Brussels show that in fully adult males the horns are subtriangular and inclined somewhat backwards; each being capped with a small polished epiphysis, which projects through the skin investing the rest of See also:flat See also:horn. As regards its See also:general characters, the skull of theokapi appears to be intermediate between that of the giraffe on the one See also:hand and that of the See also:extinct Palaeotragus (or Sanios the,riun) of the Lower See also:Pliocene deposits of See also:southern Europe on the other. It has, for instance, a greater development of See also:air-cells in the diploe than in the latter, but much less than in the former. Again, in Palaeotragus the horns (See also:present only in the male) are situated immediately over the See also:eye-sockets, in Ocapia they are placed just behind the latter, while in Girafa they are partly. on the parietals. In general See also:form, so far as can be judged from the disarticulated See also:skeleton, the okapi was more like an See also:antelope than a giraffe, the fore and hind See also:cannon-bones, and consequently the entire limbs, being of approximately equal length. From this it seems probable that Palaeotragus and Ocapia indicate the ancestral type of the giraffe-See also:line; while it has been further suggested that the apparently hornless Helladotherium of the
See also:Female Okapi.
Grecian Pliocene may occupy a somewhat similar position in regard to the horned Sivatherium of the See also:Indian Siwaliks.
For these and other allied extinct genera see PECOan; for a full description of the okapi itself the reader should refer to an illustrated memoir by Sir E. See also:Ray Lankester in the Transactions of the Zoological Society of See also:London (xvi. 6, 1902), entitled " On Okapia, a New Genus of Giraffidae from Central See also:Africa."
Little is known with regard to the habits of the okapi. It appears, however, from the observations of Dr J. See also:David, who spent, some See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time in the Albert Edward district, that the creature dwells in the most dense parts of the primeval forest, where there is an undergrowth of solid-leaved, swamp-loving See also:plants, such as arum, See also:Don ax and Phrynium, which, with See also:orchids and climbing plants, form a thick and confused See also:mass of vegetation. The leaves of these plants are blackish-See also:green, and in the gloom of the forest, grow more or less horizontally, and are glistening with moisture. The effect of the See also:light falling upon them is to produce along the midrib of each a number of See also:short white streaks of light, which-contrast most strongly with the shadows See also:cast by the leaves themselves, and with the general See also:twilight gloom of the forest. On the other hand, the thick layer of fallen leaves on the ground, and the bulk of the stems of the forest trees are bluish-See also:- BROWN
- BROWN, CHARLES BROCKDEN (1771-181o)
- BROWN, FORD MADOX (1821-1893)
- BROWN, FRANCIS (1849- )
- BROWN, GEORGE (1818-188o)
- BROWN, HENRY KIRKE (1814-1886)
- BROWN, JACOB (1775–1828)
- BROWN, JOHN (1715–1766)
- BROWN, JOHN (1722-1787)
- BROWN, JOHN (1735–1788)
- BROWN, JOHN (1784–1858)
- BROWN, JOHN (1800-1859)
- BROWN, JOHN (1810—1882)
- BROWN, JOHN GEORGE (1831— )
- BROWN, ROBERT (1773-1858)
- BROWN, SAMUEL MORISON (1817—1856)
- BROWN, SIR GEORGE (1790-1865)
- BROWN, SIR JOHN (1816-1896)
- BROWN, SIR WILLIAM, BART
- BROWN, THOMAS (1663-1704)
- BROWN, THOMAS (1778-1820)
- BROWN, THOMAS EDWARD (1830-1897)
- BROWN, WILLIAM LAURENCE (1755–1830)
brown and russet, thus closely resembling the decaying leaves in an See also:European forest after heavy See also:rain; while the whole effect is precisely similar to that produced by the russet See also:head and body and the striped thighs and limbs of the okapi. The See also:long and See also:mobile muzzle of the okapi appears to be adapted for feeding
on the See also:low forest underwood and the swamp-vegetation. The small See also:size of the horns of the males is probably also an See also:adaptation to See also:life in thick underwood. In Dr David's See also:opinion an okapi in its native forest could not be seen at a distance of more than twenty or twenty-five paces. At distances greater than this it is impossible to see anything clearly in these See also:equatorial forests, and it is very difficult to do so even at this short distance. This suggests that the colouring of the okapi is of purely protective type.
By the Arabianized emancipated slaves of the Albert Edward district the okapi is known as the kenge, 6-a-pi being the Pigmies' name for the creature. Dr David adds that See also:Junker may undoubtedly claim to be the discoverer of the okapi, for, as stated on p. 299 of the third See also:volume of the See also:original See also:German edition of his Travels, he saw in 1878 or 1899 in the Nepo district a portion of the skin with the characteristic black and white stripes. Junker, by whom it was mistaken for a large See also:water-See also:chevrotain or See also:zebra-antelope, states that to the natives of the Nepo district the okapi is known as the makape. (R.
End of Article: OKAPI
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