ADVANTAGE OF A LONG NECK 



in fact, break up the large body into less conspicuous 

 patches. As for the long neck, its presence has been 

 interpreted in two ways. On the one hand it is sug- 

 gested that length of neck is favourable to the cropping 

 of the branches of high trees ; on the other, the head 

 perched upon so high a look-out tower enables the animal 

 to keep a wary gaze upon the surrounding neighbour- 

 hood. It is remarkable that in two African animals, 

 the ostrich and the giraffe, and to a less extent in an 

 antelope (Lithocranius), which all frequent grassy 

 country with scattered bushes, the same elongation of 

 the neck occurs. Giraffes seem to be divisible into 

 two well marked varieties. But so few individuals 

 comparatively speaking have been examined that it 

 is a little dangerous to assert that these are constant 

 species. In the northern form the red brown blotches 

 are sharply marked off at their edges, so that the white 

 bands are equally conspicuous and divide the skin in 

 a reticulate fashion. This kind of giraffe has, more- 

 over, a particularly well developed median unpaired 

 horn. In the southern form the median horn is a low 

 elevation, and the demarcation between the brown and 

 white is not so sharply marked, so that the animal is 

 blotched rather than reticulate. Other varieties have 

 been named. 



THE ELEPHANT 



The elephants are a dwindling race in numbers, 

 though hardly indeed in size. At the present day there 

 are but two different species, the African and the 

 Indian. In former periods of the earth's history there 

 were large numbers of different kinds with a much 

 more extensive range. Several of these lived in England. 

 Nowadays the elephant is a purely tropical beast. 

 Apart from the resident staff, the elephant is the only 

 creature at the Gardens which stands up resolutely 



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