The Evasive Okapi

Some critters are confusing, plain and simple. Especially for a believer in universal common descent evolution. There is the platypus (of course), wombat, hoatzin, aardvark, and more. An animal that is not so well known is called the okapi (oh-KOP-ee).

This beastie caused serious confusion in the beginning. Harry Johnston was intrigued by reports of a creature in Africa, so he wanted to take a gander at it himself. His efforts took a setback when he was told that prints were found, but they did not match up with what he was expecting to see, so he did not lead the group on a search. (That kind of blinkered thinking hinders evolutionists even now.) The story surrounding the search for and discovery of the okapi would make a great movie.

Okapi, Flickr / cuatrok77 (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The okapi wants to be left alone. Also, it is not widely distributed. Those are two reasons it was unknown outside of that part of Africa for so long. Based on skin samples and descriptions from the natives, searchers were expecting to find a donkey or similar. Later, it was thought to be a previously unknown species of zebra. Some even called it the African unicorn!

One of its nicknames is the forest giraffe, and the two are actually related. What about that short neck, though? Evolution! Nope, natural selection — knowledgeable creationists have no problem with that. After all, the Creator designed the created kinds of Genesis to survive and thrive, which includes adaptation.

When Charles Darwin published his Origin of Species in 1859, he was unaware of the okapi. Indeed, the elusive creature was at that time almost certainly unknown to anyone outside its limited range in hot, steamy African jungles. How it came to be ‘discovered’ by Europeans makes for a fascinating account of international intrigue, kidnapping, diplomatic rescue, and wrong conclusions in the pursuit of scientific knowledge.

To read the rest of this extremely interesting article, head on over to "The elusive Okapi, ‘living fossil’ of the Congo."