The encyclopædia britannica; a dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information . rds its general characters, the skull of the OJIBWAY—OKAPI okapi appears to be intermediate between that of the giraffeon the one hand and that of the extinct Palaeotragus (or Samo-Ihcrium) of the Lower Pliocene deposits of southern Europe on theother. It has, for instance, a greater development of air-celis inthe diploe than in the latter, but much less than in the , in Palaeotragus the horns (present only in the male)are situated immediately over the eye-sockets, in Ocapia they arepl
The encyclopædia britannica; a dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information . rds its general characters, the skull of the OJIBWAY—OKAPI okapi appears to be intermediate between that of the giraffeon the one hand and that of the extinct Palaeotragus (or Samo-Ihcrium) of the Lower Pliocene deposits of southern Europe on theother. It has, for instance, a greater development of air-celis inthe diploe than in the latter, but much less than in the , in Palaeotragus the horns (present only in the male)are situated immediately over the eye-sockets, in Ocapia they areplaced just behind the latter, while in Girajfa they are partly onthe parietals. In general form, so far as can be judged fromthe disarticulated skeleton, the okapi was more like an antelopethan a giraffe, the fore and hind cannon-bones, and consequentlythe entire limbs, being of approximately equal length. Fromthis it seems probable that Palaeotragus and Ocapia indicate theancestral type of the giraffe-line; while it has been furthersuggested that the apparently hornless Hdladothcrium of the. Female Okapi. Grecian Pliocene may occupy a somewhat similar position inregard to the horned Sivatherium of the Indian Siwaliks. For these and other allied extinct genera see Pecora; for a fulldescription of the okapi itself the reader should refer to an illustratedmemoir by Sir E. Ray Lankester in the Transactions of the ZoologicalSociety of London (xvi. 6, 1902), entitled On Okapia, a NewGenus of Giraffidae from Central Africa. Little is known with regard to the habits of the okapi. Itappears, however, from the observations of Dr J. David, who spentsome time in the Albert Edward district, that the creature dwellsin the most dense parts of the primeval forest, where there is anundergrowth of solid-leaved, swamp-loving plants, such asarum, Donax and Phrynium, which, with orchids and climbingplants, form a thick and confused mass of vegetation. Theleaves of these plants are blackish-green
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