Sep 12, 2008

Mythical Tongue

The AFP is reporting that the Zoological Society of London is reporting that the okapi has been captured on film for the first time in the wild. How is that possible? I've seen several of these in captivity, here in California. How is it they haven't been filmed in the wild? Seems like the tropical forests of Zaire could use some more exploration. Though, it might be best if humans (poachers and developers at least) just stay out.

The report says that okapi are so elusive, that they were once considered to be a mythical unicorn. Perhaps instead of a magical horn, they have a magical tongue? Less powerful and stabby, but still quite useful.

Photo source: Soeradjoen

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aww! They're like... zebra giraffe! They even have the giraffe tongue thing going on! They win the odd vote, but they are kinda cute. I've seen them in the Denver zoo as well.

jynxkat said...

okay- a couple weeks ago i went to the SanDiego zoo with a friend- and i was really excited to see the Okapi because its one of my favorites- and just as we walked up this horrible woman proclaimed loudly that it looked like an ANT EATER O_o
how the heck does this animal look like an ant eater?
then she stood there talking about how ugly it was.
we were highly annoyed.
we stayed there a good 20 minutes just to set up a good distance between us and this okapi hating woman :P

Unknown said...

I haven't seen this animal ..It looks like horse ..I think its species of horse .

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brianna

A.H. Infosource</a

Anonymous said...

I suspect that the reporter got a little carried away. I am not sure that journalists, even science trained journalists have very much credibility.

Their favorite lines all seem to be the same. "Boffins shocked." "Scientists bewildered." "All physics must be rewritten." "First time photographed." "New species." "Evolution Revolutionized." "Reseachers Mystified." "Elementary student rewrites higher math."

Bah! Humbug!

Unknown said...

I distinctly remember watching a documentary on TV years and years ago about some rainforest biology and they were capturing okapi - and there were several videotaped on that segment. They are rare and elusive but not exactly "never seen on film before" rare.