THE GIRAFFE 



THE lights, shadows, and colors of Africa conceal a 

 world of animals, partly by passive color protection, 

 partly through the intelligence of the animals. A tawny 

 lion may be concealed even in short grass. At the slightest 

 suspicion of danger all animals "freeze" in the sea of color 

 that engulfs them. Even the giant giraffe blends into the 

 landscape of soft greens and dull browns. 



In the Rift Valley the wealth of game is almost equal to 

 the density of game in an animal park, yet to our un- 

 accustomed eyes the veldt seemed inanimate until suddenly 

 the outline of a giraffe topped a tree, and then groups of 

 giraffes came into view. 



During the midday heat many varieties of animals seek 

 shade under the umbrellalike mimosa and acacia trees. It 

 is at early dawn and at sunset that animals move about. 



It was after a day of sizzling heat that we sought the cool 

 breezes of the lake at sundown. As we neared the crusted 

 margin of the beach our attention was arrested by the gaze 

 of a beautiful dark-skinned giraffe from over a mimosa 

 tree. He was the big bull that lived up near Maji Mo to hot 

 springs, whose habitat we had often hoped to find and 

 now, just at sundown, he had come to us. 



Night falls like a curtain near the equator and allows no 

 twilight or lingering sunset. As this great beast fell on an 

 island of white sand, encircled with high bush, his massive 

 body was silhouetted against the white ground. Flares and 

 a full moon lighted our dissection, and the shining eyes of 

 lemurs and baboons and the cough of the ever-hungry 

 hyena assured us of an audience. 



According to Lydekker, 1 fossils show that the giraffe once 

 roamed the plains of Europe and Asia, but giraffes now 



LYDEKKER, RICHARD, B.A., F.G.S., F.Z.S., "The Game Animals of Africa," 

 Rowland Ward, Ld., London, 1926. 



6 9 



