Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 170, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1920 — NEW IN THE ANIMAL WORLD [ARTICLE]

NEW IN THE ANIMAL WORLD

“Okapi” Astonished Explorers, and Only a Few Specimens Have Ever Been Obtained. - Some time before 1890, Stanley, the explorer, had word from the pigmy negroes of a new beast in the impenetrable depths of the virgin forest which borders the Semllkl river in the Belgian Congo. The Wambatti natives described it as a species of donkey and called it “Attl.” From their further description, it seemed to be a hoofed animal of considerable size, which lived upon leaves. In 1899 Sir Harry Johnston himself saw the pigmies, who fully confirmed what Stanley had already told him, but added that the strange beast was striped like a zebra. Tn 1901 a Swedish officer, M. Kari Erikson, obtained a complete skin and two skulls, which he sent to Sir Harry Johnston, who then believed the beast to be of the giraffe tribe, previously found In a fossil state In Greece. It was, however, proved conclusively that although of the giraffe family it was not the animal of ancient Greece, but a new beast altogether. It was subsequently given the name of “okapi.” No more than a dozen specimens of this wonderful beast have been secured.