The okapi remained entirely unknown to Western science until 1901, when British explorer P.L. Sclater formally described specimens obtained from the Ituri Forest in what was then the Congo Free State. Chad issued this colorized piece eight years before colorized legal-tender coinage had become routine among African sovereign mints — part of a wave of wildlife-themed issues produced through European intermediaries, primarily targeting collector markets rather than domestic circulation.
The okapi remained entirely unknown to Western science until 1901, when British explorer P.L. Sclater formally described specimens obtained from the Ituri Forest in what was then the Congo Free State. Chad issued this colorized piece eight years before colorized legal-tender coinage had become routine among African sovereign mints — part of a wave of wildlife-themed issues produced through European intermediaries, primarily targeting collector markets rather than domestic circulation.