12 FROM AN EASY CHAIR 



Central Africa, discovered in 1901 by Sir Harry 

 Johnston. It is as big as a very large stag, has a neck 

 like a deer, and is striped on the haunches and legs, not 

 spotted as is the giraffe. Yet its teeth and its horns 

 prove it to be a close ally, not of deer, but of the 

 giraffe. Any points of agreement between giraffes and 

 the okapi are, therefore, important. I have examined 

 the baby giraffe at the Zoo, and find that she has 

 stripe-like bands of hair on the face and on other parts 

 of the head. Both her father and mother are from 

 Kordofan, and have some six or seven strongly-marked 

 bands of dark hair over the eyes and on the muzzle. It 

 is important to note any colour-striping in the giraffe's 

 skin, since the giraffe's colour-markings are mostly in 

 the form of great spots, whilst the okapi is only marked 

 by stripes or bands something like those of a zebra, but 

 confined to the haunches and the legs, the rest of the 

 body being dark brown. The tendency to develop 

 colour stripes in the giraffe is important, since it shows 

 us that the stripes do not separate the okapi absolutely 

 from the camelopard ; they are a common possession or 

 possibility of the two animals. It was my examination 

 of a half-brother of the little giraffe now alive at the 

 Gardens which led to the discovery of striping on the 

 head and face of giraffes. The mother in that case had 

 died before the birth of her young one, and the dead 

 calf was given to me by the secretary of the Zoological 

 Society. Sixty-eight years ago Sir Richard (then 

 Professor) Owen received a new-born giraffe from the 

 Gardens, and reported on it to the Zoological Society. 

 No one had examined one since that date ; none were 

 obtainable from the Zoo, and I could get none from 

 African travellers and sportsmen, in spite of urgent 

 requests. I was accordingly greatly pleased to secure 

 one from the London Gardens. A great peculiarity 

 of the young giraffe is that it is born with a pair of 

 well-grown horns, nearly an inch long, and covered 



