Okapis Not Extinct Anyway - Rediscovered in Congo, page 1

A rare giraffe-like animal, okapi, has been rediscovered in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). It was feared that okapis had become extinct and it was last seen in 1959. The animal resembles a cross between a giraffe and a zebra with a striped behind and legs and a long neck.

Scotsman.com: Rare giraffe-like animal "rediscovered" in Congo park

9 Jun 2006

Photo: REUTERS/Stringer

Delighted conservationists said on Friday that they had found conclusive proof of the existence of a rare giraffe-like creature in Congo's Virunga National Park that has defied the odds of survival in a region battered by savage conflict. First discovered in what is now Virunga in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 1901, the shy forest-dwelling okapi had not been found in the park since 1959. It was known to be present elsewhere in the Congo, but there were concerns it had gone extinct in the place of its discovery because of violence and lawlessness.

The animal's eastern Congo home has been the scene of incessant conflict including a brutal civil war that erupted in 1998 and then escalated to engulf several other African states at a cost of millions of lives.

"Except for mountain gorillas, which have shown an increase in population due to important conservation efforts, most wildlife in the park (Virunga) have heavily suffered from poaching," said WWF. "The population of hippopotamus, for example, has dropped from 29,000 in the mid-1970s to less than 1,000 today," it said.

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This is good news. I hope they'll manage to save this animal from extinction. It looks cool.