An African creature so secretive and rarely spotted that it once had a similar status to the mythical unicorn has been caught on camera in the wild for the first time.

Sporting a bump in the centre of its head which resembles a tiny horn, the elusive okapi was photographed living in the jungle of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The shy creature was photographed by camera traps set up in the jungle by the Zoological Society of London and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation.

Pictured for the first time: The okapi in its natural habitat in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Despite being branded a 'unicorn', the striped hindquarters of the bizarre-looking animal resemble those of a zebra.

The markings are believed to grace the back legs of the okapi so its offspring can follow it through dense jungle.

The herbivore also resembles a short-necked giraffe and has a long blue tongue to strip leaves from branches.

The okapi was photographed by cameras which had been set up to go off when triggered by nearby animals

At the beginning of this century the okapi attained near-mythical status, with its ability to lick its own eyes, its large rounded ears with extremely acute hearing and its stripey hind legs.

It was one of several animals belived to include the unicorn that roamed the deepest parts of the jungle but could not be caught by man.

Phillip Gosse's book The Romance of Natural History, published in 1861, mentioned evidence of the okapi and some speculated that he had found evidence of the unicorn.

It was not until 1901 that the okapi was fully understood and given its name.