RELATIONS OF THE OCAPI 



specimens, as Khartoum was the centre of the animal 

 trade in the part of Africa whence giraffes were generally 

 acquired. Now there are prospects of a further con- 

 tinuation of the giraffe stock. 



The giraffe has an aspect which is so familiar as to 

 need no special description. But a few points must be 

 referred to as marking its rather isolated position in the 

 Ungulate series. There is in the first place no manner 

 of doubt that it belongs to the deer-antelope section, 

 the Artiodactyla, as evinced by its paired hoofs and by 

 its complex ruminating stomach. The horns, however, 

 are of a different kind to those of other Artiodactyles, 

 except the newly discovered ocapi, which is of course 

 a short necked giraffe, to speak crudely. The horns 

 are in all as many as five, of which one is median and 

 unpaired. The others are paired and as a rule only 

 one pair is very distinct. These horns are bony pro- 

 minences in the adult animal which are covered with 

 quite unaltered skin. They are not shed. 



The lengthy neck is interesting as illustrating the 

 permanence of type in animal structure. It might 

 be supposed that the neck of the giraffe and that of 

 the hippopotamus, to take two of the greatest con- 

 trasts in neck that occur among mammals, were 

 lengthened or shortened by the omission or addition 

 of vertebrae. But nothing of the sort occurs. The 

 giraffe*s long neck is produced by a pulling out of each 

 individual vertebra while the same are shortened in 

 the hippopotamus. In both beasts, as in nearly all 

 mammals, there are but seven of these neck bones. 

 Its spots and length of neck are said to advantage the 

 giraffe greatly in the " struggle for existence." The 

 spots, at first sight appearing to render it particularly 

 obvious to any marauding lion or leopard, are said 

 by those who have come into view of the giraffe in its 

 own forests, to absolutely aid in hiding it. The spots, 



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