Facts about Okapi Behavior and Habitat
- 07
Gestation in okapis lasts about 440 to 450 days, after which a single calf is born weighing roughly 14 to 30 kilograms.
- 06
Okapis rely on their acute hearing and dense forest cover in the Ituri Rainforest to avoid their primary predator, the leopard.
- 05
Male okapis mark their territory by rubbing secretions from scent glands on their feet against trees and shrubs.
- 04
Primarily browsers, okapis feed on leaves, buds, and fungi, using their long prehensile tongues to strip foliage from branches in the Ituri Forest.
- 03
An okapi's tongue is long enough to reach its own ears and eyelids, which it uses to clean them during grooming.
- 02
Okapis communicate using infrasound frequencies below human hearing, allowing them to stay in contact through dense forest vegetation without alerting predators.
- 01
The okapi is a solitary animal native to the dense rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it uses its striped hindquarters for camouflage.