The Okapi by Natalya Zahn
Meet my new creature crush: the okapi. Okapi’s are the closest living relatives of the giraffe - the structural relationship is quite clear, they even share the same lengthy purple tongue, but their coloration (perhaps equally as amusing as that of a giraffe) is quite different. Okapis have a velvety chocolate/black coat, glowing with reddish highlights, their legs and flanks are splashed with slender white stripes, and they have what appear to be white socks up to their knees; it’s bizarre coloration, until you see them in their natural habitat - the Ituri jungle of Central Africa - where that seemingly uncoordinated outfit becomes perfect camouflage for blending into the sun dappled shadows of dense jungle vegetation…
(Read more: Natalya Zahn)
That’s my favourite animal ever. I made a poster presentation about it in 7th grade. People thought I made it up!
(via scientificillustration)
