9 2 4 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



however, but few who fail to be struck with the pathetic and half-reproachful expres- 

 sion of a fallen giraffe, and whose hearts are so hardened as not to feel some compunc- 

 tion at thus ruthlessly destroying one of the noblest specimens of nature' s handiwork. 

 Mr. Selous expresses his admiration at the sight of a herd of giraffes galloping 

 before the hunter in the following words. On the occasion to which he refers, his 

 horse was not a particularly good one, and the pace consequently not very great. 

 Eventually he got, however, within one hundred yards of his quarry, and he then 

 writes that " even in the ardor of the chase it struck me as a glorious sight to see 

 these huge beasts dashing along in front, clattering over the stones, or bursting a 

 passage through opposing bushes, their long, graceful necks stretched forward, 

 sometimes bent almost to the earth to avoid horizontal branches, and their bushy 

 black tails twisted up over their backs. And how easily and with what little exer- 

 tion they seemed to get over the ground, with that long, sweeping stride of theirs! 

 Yet they were going at a great rate, for I felt that my old nag was doing his best, 

 and I could not lessen the distance between us by an inch." 



All who have eaten of it, testify to the excellence of the flesh of the giraffe, 

 and we have already made mention of the value attached to its hide. 



The giraffe thrives well in captivity, where it breeds readily. On 

 the morning of May 24th, 1836, those Londoners who happened to be 

 passing along what was then called the New Road, were startled by the appearance 

 of four giraffes, with their Nubian attendants, on their way from the docks to the 

 Zoological Society's Gardens in the Regent's Park. Of these four individuals three 

 were males and one a female, and they respectively lived till the years 1837, 1846, 

 1849, and 1852. Between 1836 and 1892 the Zoological Society had upward of thirty 

 giraffes in their menagerie, no less than seventeen of which were bred and born there. 

 One of the latter which was born in the spring of 1846 lived till January 1867, or 

 close upon twenty-one years. The last of this series of giraffes died in March 

 1892, and it has hitherto been found impossible to replace its loss. 



Fossil giraffes are found in the Pliocene rocks of Greece, Persia, the 

 Siwalik hills at the foot of the Himalayas, and China. All these 

 extinct forms appear to have been closely allied to the living African 

 species, although in some instances the length of the limbs seems to have been pro- 

 portionately somewhat less. 



EXTINCT MAMMALS AUJED TO THE GIRAFFE 



In addition to the fossil giraffes just mentioned, there are other extinct Mam- 

 mals from the Pliocene formations of Europe and Asia which, while evidently refer- 

 able to the same group of Ruminants, must be assigned to distinct genera. 



One of the most giraffe-like of these creatures is the helladothere of Greece, a 

 hornless animal, of larger dimensions than the giraffe, but with shorter neck and 

 limbs. The limbs agree, however, with those of the latter in the great proportion- 

 ate length of the front pair, and the skull has a considerable general resemblance, 

 although with a smaller development of cells in the bones of the forehead, and 

 without an unossified space in front of the eye. An allied animal, known as the 

 libythere, has left its remains in the Pliocene strata of Algeria. 



