Okapis use tree rubbing, feces, and dance-like crossed-legged movements while urinating to mark their territory, doing so most often during courtship.
Marking of okapi territory occurs most often during courtship.
Males appear to mark with objects, such as trees and bushes, with urine while crossing their legs in a dance-like movement. Females mark using common defecation sites. Both, males and females, mark territory by rubbing their necks on trees.
Sources: (Bodmer & Rabb, 1992; Hart, 2013; Mallon, et al., 2015; Palkovacs, 2000; San Diego Zoo Global, 2017)
Image: Dirk Houbrechts
