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Okapi

      My animals name is Okapi. It is 6 feet and 17 inches. The colors of their legs are dark brown and white stripes like a zebra.  Its body is dark brown and soft like a horse.  In fact Okapi have no main so it looks like a maneless horse. People thought Okapi were related to the horse.  Its not. Okapi are related to the giraffe.

     Okapi live in west central Africa in the republic of Congo. They only live in the dense Tropical forests in the center of the continent.  Okapi eat leaves from trees and bushes. Okapi are vegetarian.  Okapi are mammals so they reproduce by giving birth in their stomach.  They take care of their young by teaching them how to get the food off the trees.

     Okapi protect themselves by using camouflage so their predictors can’t see them. Okapi do have predators. Their predator is the leopard.  Okapi is endangered because people cut down trees which are what they eat and people have been capturing them and put them in captivity.  Okapi looks like a horse. Sometimes people can’t see Okapi because they use camouflage.

     Okapi is endangered because people like us go hunting and shoot them.  Okapi hadn’t been discovered until 1901!  Sometimes Okapi don’t  live very long because as a baby they might get shot.

References

Websites

Enchanted Learning

Books

Encyclopedia of the Animals of the World by Bay Books Sydney