'Zebra hybrid giraffe' strange creature like coming out of a fairy tale

The astonishing video shows an okapi , aka a striped stag , a strange-looking fairy-tale creature living at a zoo in Oklahoma City.

Okapi is a native mammal native to northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central Africa.

Zoo officials said one of the resident okapis has a cheeky act called a "third eyelid" , which pushes its eyes back and forth.

Okapi looks like a strange cross between a deer and a zebra . It can pull their eyes inward, which protects their eyes from tree branches and vegetation as they traverse the rainforest.

An Okapi aka striped thigh deer.

A group of experts have described a third eyelid called the sclera, when blinking, the okapi's bulging eyes appear. The third eyelid may extend horizontally across the eyeball. "This film helps protect the eye and keeps it clean and moist," says the expert.

With a 25 cm long tongue, okapi can clean any part of the body, including the eyes.

Gareth Chamberlain, an okapi custodian at London Zoo, UK said: "There is no creature on this planet as special as the okapi. Not much is known about this species, the okapi was discovered in 1901 They live in dense tropical forests, it is difficult to find and track them. There is still a lot to learn about this special creature . "