700 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



on the rump the beginning of the gridiron or transverse 

 pattern of stripes which in the Grevy are lengthened out 

 and extend below the hips. 



Dolichohippus is confined to the low desert area of 

 northern British East Africa and southeastern Abyssinia. 

 The range is so limited and uniform in climatic conditions 

 that but a single species, grevyi, is recognizable. 



Grew Zebra 



Dolichohippus grevyi 



Native Names: Swahill, kangani: Samburru, kanga. 

 Equus grevyi Oustalet, 1882, La Nature, X, p. 12, figs. 2. 



Range. — From the Northern Guaso Nyiro drainage and 

 the north bank of the Tana River northward to Lake Zwai 

 in Abyssinia, westward to the eastern shore of Lake Rudolf 

 and the Omo River, and east to the limits of Abyssinia, but 

 not known to occur actually within British Somaliland. 



The kings of Abyssinia have from the very earliest 

 times sent as gifts from time to time living specimens of 

 the Grevy zebra to rulers of friendly European nations. 

 This custom early introduced the zebra to European civiliza- 

 tion. The zebra shown in the Roman amphitheatre is sup- 

 posed to have been this species and to be the one referred 

 to by the ancients as Hippotigris. Menelik, the late ruler 

 of Abyssinia, sent several specimens to various heads of 

 government in Europe and America. One of these sent to 

 President Grevy, of France, was described by Oustalet in 

 1882 and named for the chief executive. Although the 

 Grevy was without doubt the first species of zebra to 

 be known to Europe, it remained unknown, or rather un- 

 named, until described in 1882. Linnaeus, who founded 

 our modern system of binomial nomenclature, mentioned 

 in 1758 only the mountain zebra, to which he gave the 

 specific name zebra, a name virtually applicable primarily 

 to the present species. The Abyssinians appear to have a 

 special fondness for the large Grevy zebra, which is the 

 only one they capture, although the smaller, broad-striped 



