133 



* 



THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



BY E. G. BALLARD, ESQ. 



THE CAMELOPARD, (Giraffe, Linn.) 



THIS curious animal, of which the present are two of the largest spe- 

 cimens ever exhibited, when standing erect, and holding up its head, 

 measures seventeen feet from the crown of the head to the ground, and 

 eighteen feet from the point of the nose to the end of the tail. It is 

 only nine feet high at the rump ; the neck is seven feet long, and the 

 distance from the withers to the rump is six feet. 



Such is the general description of this interesting animal, but the 

 Menageries, vol. 1. p. 339, will furnish us with several particulars of its 

 structure and habits, which, though but borrowed from various sources, 

 afford those data on which is founded the true character of the animal, 

 and thus become valuable in a zoological point of view. 



Of its structure and habits we have the following description : Le 

 Vaillant, who saw the animal in its natural state, says, " The Giraffe 

 ruminates, as every animal does that possesses at the same time horns 

 and cloven feet ; it grazes also in the same way, but not often, because 

 the country which it inhabits has little pasturage. Its ordinary food is 

 the leaf of a sort of mimosa, called by the natives kanaap, and by the 

 colonists kameeldoorn (Acacia xariffiana ?). This tree being only 

 found in the country of the Namaquas, may probably afford a reason 

 why the Giraffe is there fixed, and why he is not seen in those regions 

 of Southern Africa where the tree does not grow. 



" Doubtless the most beautiful part of his body is the head. The 

 mouth is small, the eyes are brilliant and full. Between the eyes, and 

 above the nose, is a swelling, very prominent and well defined. This 

 prominence is not a fleshy excrescence, but an enlargement of the bony 

 substance, and it seems to be similar to the two little lumps or protu- 

 berances with which the top of the head is armed, and which being 

 about the size of a hen's egg, spring on each side at the commencement 

 of the mane. His tongue is rough, and terminates in a point ; the two 

 jaws have on each side molar teeth ; but the lower jaw has, beyond these, 

 eight incisive teeth, while the upper jaw has none. 



" The hoofs, which are cleft, and have no nails, resemble those of the 

 ox. We may remark, at first sight, that those of the fore feet are 

 larger than those of the hind. The leg is very slender, but the knees 

 have a prominence, because the animal kneels when it lies down. 



