Mike's Other Pixtures #69

The Okapi is native to Central Africa .... although this one lives at the Denver Zoo.

They have markings that might make you think of a zebra .... but they are in fact, a relative of the giraffe.

The horizontal stripes on the legs .... are thought be so that the young can follow their mothers through the dense rainforest. 

And may .... also serve as camouflage.

They have a much shorter neck .... than their cousin the giraffe.

But the same .... long, pointed, blue-grey tongue as the giraffe. 

That they use to strip buds and leaves from trees .... and to clean their own eyelids and ears (inside and out).