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Don’t call me a Zebra!

118

They might look like a zebra, but okapis are actually part of the giraffe family! These zebra-like stripes help them blend into the vegetation and dead leaves found in the forests of Congo where they live! 

okapi, okapia johnstoni

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118 COMMENTS

  1. OK I have some brilliant ideas!
    1. You should do a story on a big spider and talk about how it is really nice but people are scared of it. All it wants is to be your friend!
    2. explain how reptiles get their scales
    3. the unlikely friendship between sammy the serval and shelly the turtle
    4. explain how timber became an animal ambassador

    I hope I win 🙂

  6. Bahati Mtoto
    The African Serval

    The hands of poverty and drought clutched the savannah.
    My mother, Kusameheana, sat at the mouth of the cave listening to the heartbeat of a nearby Impala male that was grazing about a kilometer away.
    Her eyes darted about the Impala, she hastened to find his blind spot.
    “Watch me, Bahati.” she breathed, cocking her head to the side slightly, she lowered her body until her stomach was scraping the ground, her limbs were bent and still.
    She waited for a moment, steadying her breath so it was nearly silent in the tall grass, the only exception being the whistle of the wind.
    The Impala, young and careless, paid no attention to her presence.
    She slowly moved her paws, one atfter the other, pausing occasionally to check if the blind spot was open, she stalked in the tall grass until she was sitting only meters away from him.
    She broke her cover, hastening her limbs to move at top speed, she pounced about a meter away from the Impala, landing on his side.. clawing and fighting as the male tried to fight off my mother.
    He soon gave in to my mother’s strong force and willed fight.
    My mother clamped her jaw onto his right horn and began to drag him to our den.
    “That’s how you hunt an Impala, my son. It wil come in handy when you leave the den.”
    I nodded and smiled. “Mama, when will I get to hunt?”
    “You can hunt with me tonight, if your mother let’s you.”
    I turned my head to the sourcd of the sound, my father’s silhouette came into view.
    “Really? Mama.. can I go hunting with papa?” I pleaded.
    My mother ganced at my father, Kiongozi with a look hesitation.
    Then she glanced at me, and smiled meekly.
    “Well… I suppose.” she muttered.
    My father turned to me and smiled.
    “Well, it’s settled. Come with me.”

    * * *

    “If you’re going to learn to stalk, you must learn to use stealth, agility and intelligence to your advantage.
    You see that meerkat?” he asked, pointing it out with his right paw.
    I nodded.
    “They’re very stupid creatures, they ignore the basic signs of being hunted. If you can’t pounce one of them, then you can’t pounce an Impala.” Kiongozi announced, smiling.
    I thought back to what my mother had done earlier this evening.
    I lowered my stomach so it was nearly touching the ground, keeping my limbs sturdy and still.
    I paced my breathing, moving slowly through the grasses.
    The meerkat didn’t do so much as tilt his head towards the slight and very brief rustle of vegetation.
    I leapt from my cover, my father watching proudly as I tackled the meerkat and grabbed him in my front paws.
    He struggled for a minute or two, gasping for breath until he fell dead in my hands.
    “Good job, Bahati. I am very proud of your stance. Come, let’s show your mother what you have accomplished, maybe she will let you come hunting iht me more often.”
    “I’d love that, dad.”
    My father stopped dead in his tracks, lowering his body to the ground.
    He motion for me to do the same.
    “Don’t move, Bahati.” he muttered through clenched teeth.
    It was too late.
    A tall, thin villager arose from a nearby bush, in his left hand he clutched a rifle.
    Aiming the tip at my father’s side.
    I don’t know what happened next, it all became a blurr as the man pulled the trigger.
    My father, Kiongozi… was dead.

    * * *

    Hi guys, hoped you enjoyed the first episode!
    Any guesses who Bahati might turn out to be?
    I just want to say again, thanks so much to our two winners fro giving me these awesome ideas.
    If anyone has an idea for what should happen next, then please send them to me, if I use your idea in my story then you will be added to the Wall of Fame!
    If you have already participated in this story you can still share your ideas.
    If you have already been put on the Wall of Fame and you have another winning idea, we will just keep your name posted on the Wall of Fame and give you credit for that certain idea that you came up with.

    Thanks guys,
    Your Fellow Earthranger,
    Gabjas

  7. Please note that we will have time limits for each round, I can hardly wait to get going on the next episode so PLEASE submit your ideas ASAP (As Soon As Possible)!

    Also, since we have already chosen the main storyline, please make sure that all your ideas are based on that story line… we don’t want it becoming chaos!

  10. Hmm… Revenge and a Monkey Best friend?
    Sounds GREAT!

    Wall of Fame:
    ER_Bubbles
    EarthrocksAngel
    Ranger Stephen

    * * *

    Things changed since my dad died, the savannah was gripped ith misery and grief.
    It had been a month that had come an gone since he was killed, ever since it hadn’t rained.
    The savannah was dying.
    With every exhausted and forced breath I took, my tongue would taste the dry air.
    Food was scarce, or was it just that everyone was afraid to die like Kiongozi?
    The days passed slowly, I would witness the elder animals panting on their sides, their abdomens swelling with every breath.
    Since dad had died, my mother had to take up some of the loose ends and responsibilities, we lived in a small clan of servals just off the west side of the river.
    My dad was the strongest and most intelligent male in our clan, once he was eliminated… one by one the males vanished. First it was a large, muscular serval named Ujasiri moja dissapeared after seeting off, determined to return with an entire gnu.
    Two young males by the name of Kicheko and Tahadari were killed, they had been banished from their home lands in the north, attempting to prove themselves to the rest of the clan that they were trustworty.
    Everyone awoke to find that Little Jua was mising from his mother’s den.
    Then quickly after their demises… Furaha, Mfalme and Kuamua were shot, their carcasses dragged to a nearby village.
    Wajanja Moja was the last male in the Southern Clan.
    He too was shot, but even more sickening was that these men… whom were very different from the locals, left the carcass to rot. It was a game to them, killing for their own amusement.. for tehir own glory.
    What they were doing was far from glorious. As they would say in Swahili… mbali na utukufu.
    The mothers had to stay home and protect their young, but they desperately needed food.
    They were all too weak to hunt. To weak to move. To weak to live.
    A few times I was allowed to follow my mother to the other dens, until my mother began calling everyone in the group to join her every day in the heart of their territory.
    My mother and some of the other females took the liberty to teach me hunting techniques and it soon became my task to hunt for the dwindling group.
    She would nurse them back to health, or at least to the best of her abillity.
    At the break of dawn, on a torrid August morning, I asked my mom why she had forgivien the ways of the people, why had she not been angered by the death of her mate
    “Bahati, times have changed in Africa. The villagers are being run into poverty, they need money to protect their own families. They have come to our land, they have farmed our vegetation and they have slaughtered the young and old alike… and you know what, Bahati?”
    I shrugged and peered up at ther half lit face, she beamed down at me.
    She breathed a sigh and looked into my eyes with a judicous silence.
    “I forgive them.”
    Msamaha.
    Forgivness.

    * * *

    Hey everyone! Hoipe Episode Two was enjoyable, I’m sure having fun.
    Thanks again to our winners, this story wouldn’t be with out you guys!
    You may be wondering, where is the monkey and the revenge?
    It is coming up in the next few episodes, so don’t you worry!
    If you have any ideas or input for the stroy, please submit it!
    We would LOVE to hear!

    Thanks.
    Your Fellow Earthranger,
    Gabjas

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