What Ias A Giraffe Like Animal Callled A Tinaku

Common Name :

Okapis

Scientific Name :

Okapia johnstoni

Type :

Mammals

Diet :

Herbivore

Average Life Bridge In Captivity :

30 years

Size :

Length, eight feet; acme, 5 anxiety

Weight :

440 to 660 pounds

IUCN Red List Status :

Endangered

What is the okapi?

Known as the "forest giraffe," the okapi looks more like a cantankerous between a deer and a zebra. Nevertheless, it'south the giraffe'south just living relative. The okapi is native to the Ituri Rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo—the only place where it tin exist found in the wild—and has thick, oily fur to stay dry in the rain. Information technology besides has aroma glands on the bottom of its hooves that assistance mark its territory. Except for the tips, the okapi'due south short horns are covered in skin. While all males have horns, well-nigh females accept knobby bumps instead.

Habitat and diet

The okapi lives among dense flora in the rainforest. Information technology can blend into its surroundings thank you to the brown and white stripes on its rump, which mimic the advent of streaks of sunlight coming through the trees.

Its plant-based nutrition consists of fruits, buds, leaves, twigs, and other vegetation. Just like the giraffe and cow, the okapi has 4 stomachs that assist with digesting tough plants. Besides like its giraffe cousin, the okapi has a long, dark natural language that can strip leaves from branches. An okapi consumes between 45 and 60 pounds of food each twenty-four hour period, including riverbed dirt for minerals and common salt. It will occasionally consume bat excrement for nutrients.

Behavior and reproduction

Active during the day, the elusive okapi prefers to be lonely. Its hooves secrete viscous territorial markings, while males besides spray their territory with urine. Sometimes, yet, okapis will congregate in small groups to eat, groom, and even play.

Female okapis typically accept only one calf per pregnancy. An okapi dogie is able to walk but xxx minutes after information technology's born simply tin can't defecate until it'south at to the lowest degree a month old—that fashion, the scent of feces won't concenter predators. While adult okapis don't vocalize much (except when they're ready to breed), calves will bleat, coughing, and whistle when their mother is away. Okapi mothers communicate with their calves by making infrasounds, which are noises that are undetectable to the man ear. Female person okapis are very protective of their young and will beat the ground with their hooves to ward off potential threats. Nonetheless, upon reaching vi months of age, a dogie must fend for itself.

Threats to survival

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Ruddy List of Threatened Species, the okapi is endangered. While it'due south not clear how many remain in the wild, scientists estimate that populations may accept been slashed in half over the past two decades. Though the leopard is the okapi's chief predator in the wild, homo hunters pose a greater threat to the okapi's beingness. In 2012, a militia group killed 14 okapis at a conservation centre located at the headquarters of the Okapi Conservation Project. Today, poachers go along to kill okapis for their meat and skin, and civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo makes enforcement of wild animals protection laws increasingly difficult. Human-induced deforestation likewise leads to fragmentation and devastation of crucial okapi habitats.

Conservation

Founded in 1987, the Okapi Conservation Project still exists, despite the brutal attack on its headquarters in 2012. Information technology supports the Okapi Wildlife reserve, a World Heritage Site in the Itiru Wood, home to 5,000 okapis. The Okapi Conservation Project works with the Institute in Congo for the Conservation of Nature to provide resources to rangers who patrol the reserve and other okapi-occupied areas. The rangers' duties include detaining armed poachers before they tin can kill okapis and monitoring agricultural expansion that could harm okapi habitats. IUCN has also teamed up with other organizations, including the Zoological Society of London, to implement a decade-long strategy to reduce illegal activity that could drive the okapi to extinction.

Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/okapi

Posted by: harrisblapeneve.blogspot.com

Share this post