It Has One of the Longest Tongues of Any Animal. Here’s What It’s Used For

Itching your eye is not exactly easy when you only have four hard hooves. But as this adorable clip from the San Diego Zoo shows us, that is not a problem when you are a little okapi. All you need to do is extend your incredibly long tongue, and the job’s done. The same is true if you need to give your bottom a quick clean. Surely long okapi tongues are used for more than eye scratching and bottom licking, though, right? Read on to find out their wider purpose.

Long Tongue Evolution

To explore why okapis need such long tongues, we first need to examine where they live. The gorgeous three-week-old okapi calf in the video clip, called Mosi, is a resident of the San Diego Zoo. In the wild, okapis are found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they are considered endangered.

They are herbivores and have to compete with other plant-eating animals for the leaves, fruits, seeds, ferns, and fungi that make up their diet. However, they have evolved to have a very long tongue that allows them to reach high vegetation that is beyond the reach of their competitors.

What’s more, the okapi will not just eat any plant they come across. They are highly selective feeders. They focus on eating the plants that they can reach and use their long tongue to accurately grasp the exact target.

All About Okapi Tongues

An adult okapi’s tongue can extend nearly 10 inches beyond its mouth. This body part is dark blue with a smooth base and pointed end. Okapis are also able to grasp things because their tongues are prehensile, which means their tongues are able to grab and hold things. This makes them perfect for ripping leaves off high branches. However, their tongue is also helped out by their muscular and mobile lips. There are numerous little dots (papillae) on the tongue that also help with grip.

Other Okapi Adaptations

An okapi has a fairly long neck and an elongated head as you can see in the clip. These features help them to reach the higher branches. However, their necks are nowhere near as long as those of their cousins, the giraffes. They also have excellent hearing and use this to detect predators sneaking up on them in the forests. Their distinctive stripes also help them to hide from predators amongst the trees.

Unfortunately, their forest habitats are under threat from deforestation and logging. This — together with the bush meat trade, war, and civil unrest — has led to the okapi populations being endangered. Their numbers have fallen by 50 percent over three generations (24 years). Little Mosi will, therefore, play a vital role in the survival of the okapi species.