9 2o THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



Reverting to the consideration of the external characteristics of the giraffe, we 

 note that the ears are large and pointed, and that the large and slit-like nostrils can 

 be completely closed at the will of their owner. Moreover, the tongue is remark- 

 able for its great length, and the distance it can be protruded beyond the lips, thus 

 acting as a grasping organ of considerable power. From the nape of the neck to 

 the withers runs a relatively-short and erect mane, and the tail is of considerable 

 length, and terminates in a large tuft of long hair. The feet of the giraffe are large 

 and heavy, and have no trace of lateral hoofs. 



The coloration of the South- 

 African giraffe takes the form of a 

 number of large blotches or patches 

 of some shade of chestnut or brown, 

 irregularly distributed over a paler 

 tawny ground color; the face being 

 uniformly brownish, while the under 

 parts, the inner surfaces of the limbs, 

 and the lower portion of the limbs, 

 are whitish and devoid of darker 

 blotches. The mane is chestnut 

 colored, but the tuft at the end of 

 the tail is blackish. It is this variety 

 which is represented in the cut on 

 p. 922. On the other hand, the 

 North-African giraffe may be de- 

 scribed as a chestnut-colored animal, 

 marked by a network of fine tawny 

 lines. A full-grown bull giraffe may 

 measure as much as eighteen or 

 even nineteen feet from the soles of 

 the feet to the summit of the head, 

 while females are a foot or two 

 lower. We must not omit to men- 

 tion that, as a general rule, the liver 

 of the giraffe is unprovided with 

 a gall bladder, the animal agreeing 

 in this respect with the deer, and 

 differing from the prongbuck and 

 the hollow-horned Ruminants. 



The giraffe is con- 

 fined to Africa south of 

 the Sahara, and was formerly dis- 

 tributed in open districts throughout 

 the greater portion of that con- 

 tinent, although absent from the thickly-wooded regions of the West Coast, its range 

 extending from the Cape in the south to Abyssinia and Nubia in the north. I,ike 



Distribution 



SKELETON OF GIRAFFE. 



