The most giraffe-like feature of the okapi is the long, dark blue-violet, prehensile tongue which is used for plucking from trees and shrubs as well as for grooming.
The most giraffe-like feature of the okapi is the long, dark blue-violet, prehensile tongue which is used for plucking buds, leaves, and branches from trees and shrubs, as well as for grooming.
This tongue is proportionally longer than that of the giraffe’s. and has a pointed extremity, smooth base, and papillae on the surface. The okapi can extend its tongue 25 centimeters beyond its snout in order to groom the entirety of its body, even wiping the eyes and cleaning the ears and nostrils.
Sources: (Kingdon, 1979; Palkovacs, 2000; San Diego Zoo Global, 2017)
Image: Nathan Rupert
