Evening star., 1902-01-25

THE AFRICAN OKAPI
A New and Strange Animal Lately
Discovered
TEE CREATURES CURIOUS MARKINGS
Is Related to the American Ante
Iope.
A GEOLOGICAL WONDER
TEE CREATURES CURIOUS MARKINGS
GEOLOGICAL WONDER


Written for The Evening Star By Prof. Charles
Frederick Holder, IL D.
So thoroughly has the world been ex-
| aniined and searched by investigators and
men OF science that one might well believe
| that there is nothing new under the sun.
| Indeed. this has been the fixed conviction
| for some time. or at least as regards the
| mammals. and biologists were confident
that all the living land animals OF large
| size had been discovered and named. What
must have been the surprise then. OF xoolo-
gists to learn. as they did some months
ago, that an entirely new animal, one
| sembling the giraffe, haa-been found, some
thing that up to that time had wholly
| evaded the search of the sharp-eyed col
! lectors. who were ever on the alert for new
| specimens in the dark continent.
When Stanley made his last trip into the
heart of the latter country he was APP
preached one day by a native, who told him
| that to the south. in an almost impenetrable
region, there was a strange animal, with
| stripes and long neck. that had never
been seen by the white man. Stanley, who
| was constantly hearing such reports, which,
had he paid attention to them, would have
delayed the expedition, assumed that the
man had in mind a zebra or some we'll
known animal, and IL was here that the
hero of the dark continent lost an oppor-
tunity to add to science one and possibly
| two, of the most interesting animals known.
| Some years ago Sir Harry Johnston was
| appointed British pieuipotentfary in Uganda
| and, being interested in science, he made
every attempt to secure rare animals, en-
couraging the natives to bring him skins
and game of all kinds. The region in which
| he acted was the very heart of Africa, the
center of a mysterious country near the
| Semliki river, which connects Lakes Ed
ward and Albert Nyanza and separates
do nd fhn fafa
region is so remote that very few white
| people have approached it, and its interior
! may be said, in parts at least, to be terra
| incognita
When Sir Harry Johnston approached the
| country he found it exceedingly rich in
game, and soon heard an animal described
| that did not compare to any known form
| The natives, ignorant and prone to eXag-
geration, told repeated tales about the long
necked animal with stripes, yet not the
| giraffe. At first he paid little heed to the
reports, but as they were repeated. he final
| iy asked the natives to bring him one Of
| the strange animals. Doubtless Sir Harry
| never expected to see the fabled creature,
| but one day he heard shouting about his
| house and a head man ran in, announcing
excitedly that the unknown had been shot.
| Upon going out he found the men looking
\ at the skin of some animal that even 10
| the eyes Of a layman was evidently that OF
an animal new to science. 1t was marked
| very much like the zebra, especially the
| rump, but was of large size, showing that
] IL a ZEBRA II must nave Dttll lilt grant 0I
| the tribe. Unfortunately, the two hides
were headless and feetleSs. the natives cut
| ting them from the animal in their own
fashion, spelling them for scientific pur-
| poses. Yet the skins were priceless, and
| they were sent at once by the minister to
| England, where they excited great curiosity
| and interest, and naturaliStS from all over
| the continent journeyed to see the new dis
| covery. The skins We're pronounced by Mr..
| Phillip L. Slater, the secretary Of the Lon
| don Geological Society, new species of
| zebra, and forthwith named Equus john
| stoni Directions were now given the
| natives to secure a perfect animal if pos
| sible, and later a skin, with the hoofs on,
and two skulls We're brought in, having
| been secured by an officer named Ericsson
| on the banks of the Sinlliki river.
| Marked Like a Zebra.
From this it was seen that the discovery
was more remarkable than was supposed.
The animal had the curious coloring and
| marks of a zebra but was an entirely diff
| ferent animal; was, in fact, small Gland
like giraffe. AS soon as the skull of the
okapi, as the natives called the animal,
| was seen by naturaliStS, they noted it's re-
| semblance to an, extinct giraffe-like animal
Of the middle tertiary period, known as the
| helledotherium, an animal that has been
| extinct for millions Of years, yet here in a
! dark forest. deep in the heart of the great
| continent lived an allied FORM a survivor
| of the ages that had successfully escaped
the observation of man all the years that
| the dark continent mas been overrun by
! explorers and sportsmen.
The okapi is not so handsome an animal
! as the giraffe and but third its size, yet
| in general appearance 1t is giraffe like,
| though equally calling to mind some of the
| large African antelopes. The zebra, giraffe
| and Gland seem to have combined to pro-
| duce strange ungainly creature with the
| long neck of giraffe, the stripes of
| zebra and the body of large eland-like
antelope. Some of the peculiarities of the
| okapi are its diminttive size, being about
| one-third that of the giraffe. It's height is
| about six feet, and it is believed that large
| males attain a length of nine feet and
height of eight It's hair is brown, straight
and smooth. like that of the horse; that on
the neck and the hind quarter being a dark
| chestnut brown. The face is almost pure
white, the crown dark, while upon each
cheek is a deep red stripe. The ears are
] long and very wide and prominent, colored
| bright reddish brown with fringe of blue
black. The tail is of the rat type-long and
| slender and without a tuft. The most
striking coloration is found upon the legs
| which so far as ornamentatien is con-
l cerned, are those of zebra the lines being
| almost exact in their imitation. The fore