Okapi photos: pick your favorite

The okapi is an African animal so rare and shy, that it was once believed to be a mystical creature that existed only in people's imagination, with its striped black and white hind and front legs, and a head similar to that of a giraffe.

Now, automatic cameras used by the Zoological Society of London in the Congo, have managed to capture pictures of the Okapi in its natural habitat, for the first time, proving the species still exists and hasn't been extinct.

ZSL's Dr Noelle Kumpel told the press: "To have captured the first ever photographs of such a charismatic creature is amazing, and particularly special for ZSL given that the species was originally described here over a century ago."

The exact status of this secretive species is unknown as access to the forests of DRC is limited by civil conflict and poor infrastructure, making survey work difficult. Okapi are only known to inhabit three protected areas, of which Virunga National Park is one.

San Diego Zoo has an Okapi page.

BBC on the Okapi photos.

Zoological Society of London site.

Okapi wiki page.