CHAPTER V 



THE HARMLESS GIRAFFE 



The tallest of all living creatures is without doubt the 

 giraffe. When seen in the open or even in thin bush coun- 

 try, he reminds one very much of the curious creatures of 

 prehistoric times, exhibited in the museums of natural 

 history, so queer does he seem. Giraffes exist now only in 

 Africa, although a good many discoveries of fossils show 

 that they, like a good many other huge tropical animals 

 of ages past, were formerly found also among the hills 

 and valleys of southern Europe, Persia, and India. The 

 giraffe is a kind of link between the deer family and the 

 bovine animals, such as oxen and buffaloes, being, like 

 the latter two, a cud-chewer. 



The hairy horns of the giraffe are in young calfs easily 

 separable from the bone of the skull, but the inside core 

 grows in time together with the head bones, like the horns 

 of oxen or buffaloes. The giraffe's eyes are of a deep 

 brown color, with large pupils and long bushy lashes, and 

 they are wonderfully soft and beautiful. The tongue is 

 extremely rough, a very necessary quality, as the animal 

 feeds chiefly from the thorny desert trees, and it is un- 

 usually long, measuring from fifteen to eighteen inches. 

 The upper, prehensile lip is also very long, tough, and 

 covered with thick, short hair, so as to enable the giraffe 



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