[ 2) ] 



II. Notes on the birth of the Giraffe at the Zoological Society's Gardens, and description 

 of the Foetal Membranes and of some of the Natural and Morbid Appearances ob- 

 served in the Dissection of the young animal. By Richard Owen, Esq., F.R.S., Sfc. 



Communicated June 25, 1839. 



At the close of my paper on the Anatomy of the Giraffe^, I alluded to the circum- 

 stance of connexion having taken place between the female Giraffe and one of the 

 males in the gardens of the Zoological Society on the 18th of March, 1838, and again 

 on the 1st of April, 1838. In the mode and brief duration of the coitus, the Giraffe 

 most resembles the Deer. It is only at the period of the rut that the full-grown Giraffe 

 has been heard to utter any vocal sound ; the male at this time emits a short guttural 

 bleat, like that of the Stag. 



After the second coitus the female showed no further disposition to receive the male. 



The pugnacious disposition of the males, though not so strongly excited at this pe- 

 riod as in the Deer tribe, yet manifested itself in frequent assaults upon each other 

 with the horns, which are wielded by a sidelong and backward swing of the neck ; they 

 have not been observed to kick or fight with their hoofs. 



Many months elapsed before any change in the form or capacity of the abdomen of 

 the female could be perceived, but at length an expansion of the lumbar region became 

 manifest, and the movements of the fwtus could be felt through the abdominal parietes, 

 especially of the left side, indicative of its position in the left horn of the uterus. 



Notwithstanding these unequivocal symptoms of pregnancy, when more than a year 

 had elapsed without a symptom of parturition, many began to doubt the fact, especially 

 as the increased capacity of the abdomen was not so disproportionate as in the common 

 Ruminants. 



At the beginning of June 1839, however, a visible change took place in the external 

 parts and capacity of the vulva ; on the 10th of June the udder began to enlarge and 

 the teats to swell. At length, after a gestation which had lasted 444 days, or 15 

 lunar months, 3 weeks and 3 days since the second coitus, parturition commenced at 

 noon on the 19th of June, 1839. The fore-legs were first protruded, through the cho- 

 rion and vulva, as far as the knees or carpal joints : after a lapse of five or six minutes 

 the muzzle made its appearance, the head being bent over the left leg. The mother 

 stood during the brief parturition, and seemed not to be weakened by her pains. The 

 young animal when born was motionless : nearly a minute elapsed, when the first 



' Zoological Transactions, vol. ii. p. 246. 



