THE CAMEL FAMILY. 



129 



dorsal vertebra. The tail is thin, of moderate 

 length, and ends in a long thick tuft of hair. 

 The legs are of equal length, and the bones 

 of the lower parts of the legs, including the 

 metacarpal and metatarsal bones, are ex- 

 cessively elongated, while the upper arm 

 (humerus) and thigh (femur) are short and 

 hidden in the flesh. The hoofs are broad, 

 and there is no trace of accessory hoofs or of 

 the bones which carry them. Of all rumi- 

 nants the giraffe is the one that has the foot 

 most reduced. Tear-pits and interdigital 

 glands are likewise wanting. The dentition 

 is similar to that of the Cavicornia. The 

 hair is for the most part thick and short; 

 there are only a few longer and coarser hairs 

 on the middle line of the -neck besides the 

 very long ones of the tail. The ground 

 colour of the coat is a light-yellow, almost 

 white on the back and on the lower parts of 

 the legs, which are not spotted. The other 

 parts show irregular but always polygonal 

 and often pretty large brown spots. 



The animal inhabits the steppes and deserts 

 of the tropical parts of Central Africa. It is 

 always met with in small troops, which haunt 

 in particular those places where mimosas and 

 other trees form very open clumps. With 

 the exception of the eyes all the organs of 

 sense seem to be very obtuse, and the 

 intelligence of the creature is assuredly not 

 very high. The giraffe feeds on the leaves 

 and young shoots of trees, which it is enabled 

 to reach by the enormous length of its neck 

 and the protrusible tongue. The grazing of 

 grass is difficult for it, and it is enabled to 

 reach anything on the ground only by spread- 

 ing out its fore-legs as widely as possible, 

 which gives it almost a comical attitude. It 

 cannot trot, but it gallops with great rapidity, 

 and when galloping it holds its long stiff neck 

 erect like a mast and keeps swinging it from 

 side to side, while at the same time it lashes 

 its back with its tail. Its pursuers hunt it 

 on horseback or mounted on fleet dromedaries, 

 relays being stationed at different points, 



VOL. II. 



where fresh riders and animals take up the 

 chase. 



The ancient Egyptians received giraffes as 

 tribute from the subject tribes of the Soudan. 

 Julius Caesar brought the first giraffes to 

 Rome. In our times the first two young 

 giraffes were brought to Europe in 1827, one 

 to Paris and one to London. They excited 

 great attention; there were even fashions 

 "a la girafe" introduced. Since then they 

 have been brought over in tolerably large 

 numbers, and all zoological gardens now 

 possess specimens. They are in general 

 gentle and easy to manage, but do not stand 

 our climate very well. They are specially 

 liable to become rachitic if not carefully 

 protected from draughts and rain, which last 

 inspires them with a real dread. 



THE CAMEL FAMILY 



(CAMELIDA). 



The family of the camels has also received 

 the name of the Pad-footed (Tylopoda), on 

 account of the singular structure of their feet, 

 which are but slightly cloven and carry small 

 narrow hoofs seated on a broad rounded 

 warty pad forming the sole. 



The structure of the teeth is not less 

 remarkable. The camels are the only rumi- 

 nants which have incisors in the upper jaw. 

 Young animals have three of these on each 

 side; but the inner ones soon drop out and are 

 not replaced. In older animals there is in 

 each half of the premaxillary bone only a single 

 large incisor, which is prominent, conical, and 

 pointed like the canine, but smaller. In the 

 lower jaw there are three pairs of incisors, 

 and immediately behind the last there stands 

 the large pointed canine, similar to the upper, 

 which, however, is separated from the incisors 

 by a diastema. The jaws are, accordingly, 

 much better armed in front than in the other 

 ruminants, and in the countries of which the 

 camels are natives it is very well known that 

 their bite is not without danger. Immediately 



49 



