Okapi

In the family of Giraffidae, there are only two members.  The well-known Giraffe for which the family is named, and the unsung hero, the Okapi.  The Okapi, also known as the "African Unicorn", stands as yet another testament to how bizarre nature truly is.

Like its douchebag glory-stealing cousin the Giraffe, the Okapi is also native to Africa.  It is a strange animal, resembling a cross between a deer, giraffe, zebra, and a horse.  In fact, it's kind of like evolution wasn't sure what to make of it, and just threw a bunch of DNA into a blending machine in hopes of creating a delicious fruit smoothie.  These large animals can grow to be 8 feet long and 6 and half feet tall.  The Okapi's neck is much shorter than the Giraffe's, and it has a foot-long tongue it uses to clean inside its eye sockets and ears.

Okapis are reddish-brown, but their back legs are white with black zebra-like stripes.  Scientists theorize that theses bright, monochrome stripes somehow work like camouflage in their native rain forest habitat (which is green and brown).  Okapis live alone almost all of their lives, coming out of their solitude only for mating.  Like dogs, they will sometimes mark their territory by urinating, although they tend to use a sticky tar-like substance emitted from glands in their hooves for this purpose instead.

During the attempt to put Okapis in zoos, it was discovered that they are terrible sailors.  When trying to move them thousands of miles in a ship, they just kept dying from "rigors and stress".  However, more recent attempts to transport Okapis by plane has been more successful, proving that Okapis are totally cool with flying.

So, if you ever see a six-foot tall horse-thing with the legs of a zebra that's spewing black goo from its feet and trying to board a plane, you can properly note to your terrified companion, "That, my dear sir, is an Okapi, better known as the 'African Unicorn'".