494 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



A. D. Smith (1897, pp. 163, 179, 212, 213, 291, 354, 355) found 

 many Giraffes from the lower Dawa River (about lat. 4 N., long. 

 42 E.) westward through southern Ethiopia to the north end of 

 Lake Rudolf, and southeast of that lake toward the Guaso Nyiro. 



Ffinch (in Bryden, 1899, pp. 508-509) reports small numbers in 

 or near the Karanleh country not far from the Webbi Shebeyli 

 (about lat. 6 N., long. 43 E.). This locality is probably close to 

 the northern limit of the Reticulated Giraffe. 



Neumann (in Bryden, 1899, pp. 491-495) writes of this Giraffe: 



It is particularly plentiful in the neighbourhood of the Gwaso Nyiro River, 

 a little north of Kenia . . . ; and I have there seen very large herds (contain- 

 ing forty or fifty or more individuals) on both sides of the river. . . . 



The cows sometimes get very fat, and then their meat is unsurpassed by 

 that of any African animal, and none will keep so long. . . . 



The Ndorobo natives are very rarely able to shoot giraffes with the bow 

 and poisoned arrow, owing to the difficulty of getting near them. But they 

 occasionally catch them in their fall traps, set in places where they are in 

 the habit of crossing gullies or in paths through thick patches of bush. . . . 



They are such strangely beautiful, such grotesquely graceful creatures, and 

 withal so harmless, that one feels some hesitation in slaying them except 

 for urgent needs. It is a particularly lovely sight to see from an eminence or 

 opposing slope the lofty necks of a herd towering above a sea of bush, with 

 the early morning sun full upon them .... 



I do not think that lions very often succeed in killing these animals, 

 defenceless though they be. 



Lonnberg (1912, pp. 143-148) says: 



When we had crossed to the northern side of the Guaso Nyiri . . . the 

 Giraffes became more numerous. . . . 



Around the water-place of the Rendiles called Njoro Giraffes were not 

 uncommon. . . . When we ... were camping some distance below Chanler 

 Falls, the Giraffes were found to be still more common and less shy. [Aside 

 from Lions] I suppose that the fullgrown Giraffes have hardly any other 

 enemies than man. The hide-hunting has been successfully stopped, I be- 

 lieve, by the regulation that 5 must be paid for the license permitting one 

 Giraffe to be killed. ... I hope that these beautiful and interesting animals 

 shall be able to live long in the arid thorn-bush country, north of Guaso 

 Nyiri where certainly no settlers can expect to raise any crops on the 

 gravel. ... It does not therefore appear to be any reasonable cause for 

 that they should be exterminated, and for the present the stock is good, I 

 am glad to say. . . . 



This Giraffe was infested by a great number of ticks .... They proved to 

 belong to the species Hyalomma aegyptium (L.). 



"The Somali giraffe is found in astonishing numbers throughout 

 Jubaland, for the character of the country in the interior is espe- 

 cially adapted to their habits. ... I saw about 280 in all, of which 

 the greater number were in the districts of Joreh, Arroga and Rama 

 Gudi ; and in the thorn country to the west of Marti Mountain they 

 were also exceedingly plentiful." (Dracopoli, 1914, p. 250.) 



