okapi
1
9.6
- noun
- /oʊˈkɑːpi/
- The okapi is known for its unique zebra-like stripes on its legs.
- okapi in the forest
Examples
-
The okapi was an animal of mystery even before it had been given a name or seen by zoologists.
Academic text (1992) -
The okapi is not the only unusual animal endemic to the forest areas of northeastern Zaire.
Academic text (1992) -
The relationship is even more obvious when an okapi is feeding.
Academic text (1992) -
Why, for instance, is the okapi everywhere a creature of forest shadows?
Academic text (1992) -
We also observed that the okapi never eats one plant to the exclusion of others.
Academic text (1992) -
Whatever the case, today the okapi is thriving in Zaire's Ituri Forest.
Academic text (1992) -
No other animal, however, depends upon leaves in the shady forest understory to the extent that the okapi does.
Academic text (1992) -
Yet diversity is the outstanding trait of the okapi's diet.
Academic text (1992) -
The okapi's range does not correspond to the distribution of its preferred plants in the Ituri Forest.
Academic text (1992) -
The first okapi to be successfully exported alive went to the Antwerp Zoo in Belgium in 1919.
Academic text (1992)
Surface Forms
Etymology
Okapi comes from a local language in central Africa; local people used that name for the animal and European explorers kept it. That's why the word itself points to the okapi's home in the Congo rainforest and helps you remember it is a rare African animal related to the giraffe, even though it has zebra-like legs.