Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-09-09
PHOTOGRAPHS OKAPI
IN WILDS OF CONGO
Explorer Gets First Pictures
of Strange Animal.

Washington.-The okapi, one OF
which recently arrived at the Bronx
zoo in New York City, is one of the
worlds strangest creatures, accord
ing to the American Nature associa-
ton. Maybe it is because it takes
bath night and morning. Com
mander Attilio Gatti on his tenth ex-
petition into the Congo country has
just sent a report to the American
Nature association on the facts
about this Giving fossil"
Commander Gatti is the first man
to photograph the okapi in its nat
ural habitat. He is a famous col
lector and explorer and has car
ried on his work for the Royal Uni
versity of Florence and the Royal
Geological societies of Rome and
Antwerp.
In his report to the American Ma
ture association, Commander Gatti
tells of the troubles he had photo
graphing the beast and of the great
care the animal gives his coat which
blends so perfectly with the foliage
of the forests in which the animal
lives. Commander Gatti writes:
Resents Being Snapped.
"A pygmy guided us to the spot.
A noise of moving leaves told us
that the okapi was aware of our
presence-had plunged into the for
est on our bank of the river and had
stopped there. All the men sudden
ly stiffened as the head of the okapi
appeared Immediately before me.
His throat was the same silvery
color as the mandulu leaves. His
head and great ears were almost in
distinguishable because of their sim
ilarity with the spearlike leaves. Be
fore I was able to realize he was a
beautiful male with horns at least
two inches long and free of skin at
the tips-indicating an advanced
age-I had snapped half dozen pic
lures.
II tried to make every move as
quietly as possible. His big blue
eyes took on that CLASSY sinister ex-
preston the natives fear. His teeth
ground with irritation as he laid
back his ears, accentuating the
strange outline of his head. Then he
lunged forward, giving me just time
to jump aside as was clicking my
fifteenth photograph.
"The pygmies, knowing what those
CLASSY eyes meant, swarmed into
the trees. The okapi found no one
before him and in two strides of
his giraffe-like gallop, had disap-
peared into the mandulu.
Called Giving Fossil"
"The okapi is a member of the
family Giraffidae, and is considered
by many as an actually living fos-
sill" the report to the American Ma
ture association continues. ellis
head is almost indistinguishable
from that of the prehistoric Sano-
therium of the lower Pliocene of Eu-
rope, extinct for fifteen million
years. His body is like that Of an
antelope, and his legs have beautiful
stripes of pure black and white
similar to those of a zebra. The
large red ears, the color of the un-
dersides of the mandulu leaves, are
delicately fringed in black. The back
is shaded into rich tints of dark red,
light red and silvery red on the sides
and under the belly.
"The okapi gives constant care to
his precious coat; cleanliness, in
fact, appears to be his most strik-
ing characteristic. He never tires
of washing himself carefully, lick
ing his skin at every point that his
long blue tongue can reach.
"Another popularity of the okapi
is his large eyes, which have, indie
pendently of each other, an extraor-
binary field of rotation, enabling
him to look in two directions at
once"