April Seal, age 13, of Longview, Wash., for her question:

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF THE OKAPI?

Okapi is the name of one of the shyest animals on earth. It can hide so well that scientists didn't even know it existed until the 20th Century.

An English explorer named Sir Harry Johnston found the strange animal in the Congo Valley of Africa in 1900.

Okapis belong to the giraffe family. 7hey have short necks and are about five feet tall at the shoulders, which means they are a lot shorter than the giraffe. The males have short horns that are covered with skin except for small polished tips.

The okapi's color is striking: it has a red forehead, yellowish white cheeks, purplish back, white front legs that are striped in black and back legs that are yellowish white.

The shy okapi stays deep in the jungles of Africa. It travels alone or with just one other okapi.