Editing Okapi (section)

==Etymology and taxonomy==
[[File: Pieces from Okapi leather, obtained by Sir Harry Johnston (crop).jpg|thumb|left|Strips cut from the striped part of the skin of an okapi, sent home by Sir [[Harry Johnston]], were the first evidence of the okapi's existence to reach Europe.]] 
Although the okapi was unknown to the Western world until the 20th century, it may have been depicted since the early fifth century BCE on the [[façade]] of the [[Apadana]] at [[Persepolis]], a gift from the Ethiopian procession to the [[Achaemenid]] kingdom.<ref>[http://oi.uchicago.edu/museum/collections/pa/persepolis/apadana.html The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Photographic Archives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708195251/http://oi.uchicago.edu/museum/collections/pa/persepolis/apadana.html |date=8 July 2008 }}; [http://oi.uchicago.edu/gallery/pa_iran_paai_per_apa/index.php/2C9_72dpi.png?action=big&size=resize&fromthumbnail=true photo detail] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221130911/http://oi.uchicago.edu/gallery/pa_iran_paai_per_apa/index.php/2C9_72dpi.png?action=big&size=resize&fromthumbnail=true |date=21 February 2014 }}. The Oriental Institute identifies the subject as an Okapi with a question mark.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ethiopian Delegation, Apadana Staircase, Persepolis by Richard Stone |url=https://pbase.com/rjstone/image/153898896 |access-date=2023-03-04 |website=PBase |language=en-US}}</ref>

For years, Europeans in Africa had heard of an animal that they came to call the African [[unicorn]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.zmescience.com/science/biology/first-pictures-of-the-okapi-or-the-african-unicorn/|title=First pictures of the okapi or the African 'unicorn'|date=2008-09-12|website=ZME Science|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/new-deal-okapi-africas-unicorn|title=A New Deal for the Okapi, Africa's "Unicorn"|website=NRDC|date=13 December 2019 |language=en|access-date=2020-02-20}}</ref> The animal was brought to prominent European attention by speculation on its existence found in press reports covering [[Henry Morton Stanley]]'s journeys in 1887. In his travelogue of exploring the Congo, Stanley mentioned a kind of [[donkey]] that the natives called the ''atti''<!--The Ancient Greek word ati means horse{{dub}}-->, which scholars later identified as the okapi.<ref>{{cite web |title=Okapia johnstoni (P.L.Sclater, 1901) |url=https://www.gbif.org/species/113392070 |website=Global Biodiversity Information Facility |access-date=1 January 2025}}</ref>

When the British special commissioner in Uganda, [[Harry Johnston|Sir Harry Johnston]], discovered some [[African Pygmies|Pygmy]] inhabitants of the Congo being abducted by a showman for exhibition, he rescued them and promised to return them to their homes. The Pygmies fed Johnston's curiosity about the animal mentioned in Stanley's book. Johnston was puzzled by the okapi tracks the natives showed him; while he had expected to be on the trail of some sort of forest-dwelling horse, the tracks were of a cloven-hoofed beast.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.earthtouchnews.com/conservation/endangered/new-hope-for-the-elusive-okapi-congos-mini-giraffe/|title=New hope for the elusive okapi, Congo's mini giraffe|work=Earth Touch News Network|access-date=2017-11-09|language=en}}</ref>
[[File: Okapi 1901.jpg|thumbnail|upright|Illustration from an original painting by Sir Harry Johnston, based on preserved skins (1901)]]
Though Johnston did not see an okapi himself, he did manage to obtain pieces of striped skin and eventually a skull. From this skull, the okapi was correctly classified as a relative of the giraffe; in 1901, the species was formally recognized as ''Okapia johnstoni''.<ref name="auto"/>

''Okapia johnstoni'' was first described as ''Equus johnstoni'' by English zoologist [[Philip Sclater|Philip Lutley Sclater]] in 1901.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sclater|first=Philip Lutley|year=1901|title=On an Apparently New Species of Zebra from the Semliki Forest.|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31590976|journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London|volume=1|pages=50–52|via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref> The [[Genus|generic name]] ''Okapia'' derives either from the [[Mvuba language|Mbuba]] name {{lang|mxh|okapi}}<ref name="OED">{{cite web|url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/130927 | title=okapi, n. | work=Oxford English Dictionary | access-date=3 April 2020}}</ref> or the related [[Lese language|Lese]] [[Bari language|Karo]] name {{lang|les|o'api}}, while the [[specific name (zoology)|specific name]] (''johnstoni'') is in recognition of Johnston, who first acquired an okapi specimen for science from the [[Ituri Forest]].<ref name="auto">Nowak, Ronald M. (1999) ''Walker's Mammals of the World.'' 6th ed. p. 1085.</ref><ref>{{citation |title=The Okapi: Mysterious Animal of Congo-Zaire |last1=Lindsey |first1=Susan Lyndaker |last2=Green |first2=Mary Neel |last3=Bennett |first3=Cynthia L. |publisher=University of Texas Press |date=1999 |isbn=0292747071 |pages=4–8 }}</ref>

In 1901, Sclater presented a painting of the okapi before the [[Zoological Society of London]] that depicted its physical features with some clarity. Much confusion arose regarding the taxonomical status of this newly discovered animal. Sir Harry Johnston himself called it a ''[[Helladotherium]]'', or a relative of other extinct giraffids.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Proceedings of the general meetings for scientific business of the Zoological Society of London|journal=[[Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London]]|date=1901|volume=2|issue=1|pages=1–5|url=https://archive.org/stream/proceedingsofzoo19012zool#page/n47/mode/2up}}(May to December)</ref> Based on the description of the okapi by Pygmies, who referred to it as a "horse", Sclater named the species ''[[Equus (genus)|Equus]] johnstoni''.<ref name=kingdon1979>{{cite book|last1=Kingdon|first1=Jonathan|title=East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa, Volume 3, Part B|date=1979|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=9780226437224|page=339}}</ref> Subsequently, zoologist [[Ray Lankester]] declared that the okapi represented an unknown genus of the [[Giraffidae]], which he placed in its own genus, ''Okapia'', and assigned the name ''Okapia johnstoni'' to the species.<ref name=prothero>{{cite book|last1=Prothero|first1=Donald R.|last2=Schoch|first2=Robert M.|title=Horns, tusks, and flippers : the evolution of hoofed mammals|date=2002|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore, Md.|isbn=9780801871351|pages=66–67}}</ref>

In 1902, Swiss zoologist [[Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major]] suggested the inclusion of ''O. johnstoni'' in the extinct giraffid subfamily [[Palaeotragus|Palaeotraginae]]. However, the species was placed in its own subfamily Okapiinae, by Swedish [[palaeontologist]] [[Birger Bohlin]] in 1926,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bohlin|first1=B.|title=Die Familie Giraffidae: mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der fossilen Formen aus China|journal=Palaeontologica Sinica, Series C|date=1926|volume=4|pages=1–179}}</ref> mainly due to the lack of a [[Cingulum (tooth)|cingulum]], a major feature of the palaeotragids.<ref name=colbert>{{cite journal|last1=Colbert|first1=E. H.|title=The relationships of the okapi|journal=Journal of Mammalogy|date=February 1938|volume=19|issue=1|pages=47–64|doi=10.2307/1374281|jstor=1374281}}</ref> In 1986, ''Okapia'' was finally established as a sister genus of ''[[Giraffa]]'' on the basis of [[cladistics|cladistic]] analysis. The two genera together with ''[[Palaeotragus]]'' constitute the tribe Giraffini.<ref name=geraads>{{cite journal |last1=Geraads |first1=Denis |title=Remarques sur la systématique et la phylogénie des Giraffidae (Artiodactyla, Mammalia) |journal=Geobios |date=January 1986 |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=465–477 |doi=10.1016/S0016-6995(86)80004-3 |bibcode=1986Geobi..19..465G }}</ref>

===Evolution===
[[File:Okapi Giraffe Neck.png|thumb|upright|Despite the vast difference in neck length, the okapi (left) and the giraffe (right) both have seven [[cervical vertebrae]] (as do all mammals except for manatees and sloths).]]
The earliest members of the Giraffidae first appeared in the early [[Miocene]] in Africa, having diverged from the superficially deer-like [[Climacoceratidae|climacoceratids]]. Giraffids spread into Europe and Asia by the middle Miocene in a first [[Radiation (biology)|radiation]]. Another radiation began in the [[Pliocene]], but was terminated by a decline in diversity in the [[Pleistocene]].<ref name=finlayson>{{cite book|last1=Finlayson|first1=Clive|title=Neanderthals and Modern Humans : An Ecological and Evolutionary Perspective|date=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0521121002|page=25|edition=Digitally printed}}</ref> Several important primitive giraffids existed more or less contemporaneously in the Miocene (23–10 million years ago), including ''[[Canthumeryx]]'', ''[[Giraffokeryx]]'', ''[[Palaeotragus]]'', and ''[[Samotherium]]''. According to palaeontologist and author Kathleen Hunt, ''Samotherium'' split into ''Okapia'' (18 million years ago) and ''Giraffa'' (12 million years ago).<ref>{{cite web|author=Hunt, Kathleen|title=Transitional Vertebrate Fossils FAQ Part 2C|publisher=TalkOrigins|url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-transitional/part2c.html#arti|access-date=28 April 2015}}</ref> However, J. D. Skinner argued that ''Canthumeryx'' gave rise to the okapi and giraffe through the latter three genera and that the okapi is the extant form of ''Palaeotragus''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mitchell |first1=G. |last2=Skinner |first2=J. D. |title=On the origin, evolution and phylogeny of giraffes Giraffa camelopardalis |journal=Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa |volume=58 |issue=1 |year=2003 |doi=10.1080/00359190309519935 |pages=51–73|bibcode=2003TRSSA..58...51M |s2cid=6522531 }}</ref> The okapi is sometimes referred to as a [[living fossil]], as it has existed as a species over a long geological time period, and morphologically resembles more primitive forms (e.g. ''Samotherium'').<ref name=prothero/><ref name="auto1">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19570624&id=wAMkAAAAIBAJ&pg=6731,2170969 |title=Why Is the Okapi Called a Living Fossil |newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal |date=24 June 1954 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In 2016, a genetic study found that the common ancestor of giraffe and okapi lived about 11.5&nbsp;million years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Agaba |first1=M. |last2=Ishengoma |first2=E. |last3=Miller |first3=W. C. |last4=McGrath |first4=B. C. |last5=Hudson |first5=C. N. |last6=Bedoya Reina |first6=O. C. |last7=Ratan |first7=A. |last8=Burhans |first8=R. |last9=Chikhi |first9=R. |last10=Medvedev |first10=P. |last11=Praul |first11=C. A. |last12=Wu-Cavener |first12=L. |last13=Wood |first13=B. |last14=Robertson |first14=H. |last15=Penfold |first15=L. |last16=Cavener |first16=D. R. |title=Giraffe genome sequence reveals clues to its unique morphology and physiology |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |date=May 2016 |volume=7 |pages=11519 |doi=10.1038/ncomms11519 |doi-access=free |pmid=27187213 |pmc=4873664|bibcode=2016NatCo...711519A }}</ref>