244 MR. R. OWEN ON THE ANATOMY 
ADDENDUM. 
In the year 1836 there were seven living Giraffes in England ; three in the Surrey 
Zoological Gardens and four in the Zoological Gardens in the Regent’s Park. The 
latter were similar in age and size—one was a female, the other three were males. Three 
of these Giraffes were captured in the spring of the year 1835, in the deserts of Kordofan, 
at which time they were probably not more than one year old. I witnessed their arrival 
at the Gardens early on the morning of the 25th of May, 1836. They had to walk a 
distance of some miles from the place of their disembarkation to the Gardens; two 
keepers, each with a long rein attached to the head of the Giraffe, led it between them. 
They walked along at a rapid pace, generally in advance of their conductors. At first 
sight they seem to move forward simultaneously the two legs of the same side, and these 
are undoubtedly both off the ground at the same time through the greater part of the 
step, but upon a close inspection the hind-leg is always seen to be first lifted from 
the ground, and after a very brief interval the fore-leg of the same side. When they 
entered the Park and first caught sight of the green trees, they became excited, and 
hauled upon the reins, waving the head and neck from side to side, with an occasional 
caracole and kick-out with the hind-legs. M. Thibaud, their captor and chief con- 
ductor, contrived, however, to coax them along with pieces of sugar, of which they are 
very fond. In the sanded paddock appropriated to them at their present abode they 
enjoy ample space for exercise, and in the warm days of summer they often exhibit all 
their various and singular paces. In the simple walk, the neck, which is then stretched 
out in a line with the back, gives them a stiff and awkward appearance; but this is 
entirely lost when they commence their graceful, undulating canter: to judge by the 
movement of the legs, this pace appears not so rapid as it actually proves to be when 
the extent of ground is observed over which it has carried them in a given time. The 
motions of the legs are now very peculiar and uncommon : the hind-pair are lifted alter- 
nately with the fore, and are carried outside of, and beyond them by a kind of swinging 
movement : when excited to a swifter pace they often kick out their hind-legs during the 
course, and their nostrils are then actively and unwontedly dilated. 
I have observed all the movements of the tongue which have been described by pre- 
vious authors. The Giraffe being endowed with an organ so exquisitely formed for pre- 
hension, instinctively puts it to use in a variety of ways while in a state of confinement : 
the female in the Garden of Plants at Paris, for example, may frequently be observed to 
amuse itself by stretching upwards its neck and head, and with the slender tongue pull- 
ing out the straws which are platted into the partition separating it from the contiguous 
compartment of its inclosure. In our own menagerie many a fair lady has been robbed 
of the artificial flower which adorned her bonnet by the nimble, filching tongue of the 
object of her admiration. The Giraffe seems, indeed, to be guided more by the eye 
than the nose in the selection of objects of food; and if we may judge of the apparent 
