(Picture by Ville Sinkkonen)

    Spec's Congo harbor a number of oddities, relic species from a time when Africa was a lush continent, covered with jungles of which the present greenery is merely a fragment.  One of these relics is the primitive oopa (Cranitus cristatus), a paleoungulapod most closely related to the blowhards of Africa's southern coast.

    Like their smaller cousins, oopas lack horns, sporting enlarged brow ridges and a laterally flattened nasal crest in their stead.  These timid herbivores are solitary in their habits, although young calves with trail behind their mother for up to a year before heading off on their own.  Males, larger than females and more brightly-colored, can be quite ill-tempered and deliver vicious kicks with their front hooves to any creature stupid or unlucky enough provoke them.