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View count:309
Likes:53
Comments:4
Duration:12:59
Uploaded:2026-04-06
Last sync:2026-04-06 16:15
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Is the okapi cryptozoology's greatest success story? If the locals were always just describing a giraffe relative from their backyard, was it ever a cryptid at all? Who decides that an animal is "real"?



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Find out more about the National Geographic Photo Ark here: https://www.joelsartore.com/

Learn more about the Okapi Conservation Project here: Okapi Conservation Project



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Sources:

https://archive.org/details/romanceofnatural00gossrich/page/284/mode/2up

https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/tetrapod-zoology/misreading-the-mokele-mbembe-the-mokele-mbembe-part-1/

https://archive.org/details/savageafricabein00read/page/374/mode/2up

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/okapi

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/okapi

https://www.paceproject.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Pace-Okapi-Booklet-digital.pdf

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Okapia_johnstoni/

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0001578/19310711/028/0005#

https://web.archive.org/web/20080913201957/http://www.zsl.org/field-conservation/news/first-ever-pictures-of-africas-unicorn,514,NS.html

http://www.cryptozoonews.com/ics-2016-pt1/

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-22246-2_26

https://library.si.edu/donate/adopt-a-book/darkest-africa

https://readingroo.ms/4/3/6/5/43655/43655-h/43655-h.htm#APPENDIX_B

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG124957

https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/53714/discovering-okapi?srsltid=AfmBOoqrp9j0BGuAzjOGglZZurz0TJYNxhK7DdOAWsKunAWxqN4HUSoI

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/belgian-king-establishes-congo-free-state/

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31590976#page/90/mode/1up

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/177812#page/1/mode/1up

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/99488#page/52/mode/1up

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/fantastic-creatures/

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/scramble-africa

https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/15188/51140517

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/new-deal-okapi-africas-unicorn

https://www.iucncontributionsfornature.org/contributions/9879?lat=49.9555081&lng=45.9441973&zoom=3

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295908918_Okapi_Okapia_johnstoni_Conservation_Strategy_and_Status_Review#pfb

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Images:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bETQgMcHunqlyFx-MhCAWjgeaxTAwGbxR9I4HnzOUy8/edit?tab=t.0
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