Phyllis Mary McDonough, age 11, of Portland, OR for her question:

To what family does the Okapi belong?

The okapi belongs to the Giraffidae family. He is the only relative of the skyscraper giraffes The chocolate colored fellow wears rows of white garters on his thighs, He is about as big as a small cow and may not remind you of a giraffe at all.

When he was discovered in darkest Africa about 50 years ago, the okapi was mistaken for a kind of ox. Then the experts studied his teeth, his feet, his furry horns, his long tongue and prehensile lips. They classed him in the giraffe family  even though he had no skyscraper neck.

Some 15 million years ago, a creature called the palaetragine roamed the earth. This old fellow was very like the modern okapi. He is believed to be the ancestor of both the okapi and the giraffe.