Okapi are the only relative of the giraffe. They have prehensile tongues like the giraffe, for stripping buds and leaves from the brush in their Ituri Forest home in Central Africa. Their dark purplish or reddish-brown fur feels like velvet, and will show the imprint of a hand. They are solitary animals, so were unknown to scientists until 1900. It's stripes are great camouflage, and are sometimes called "follow-me stripes", for the benefit of their young following them in the dark forest.
