364 GIRAFFE GROUP 



this third horn seems to be decidedly smaller than in G. c. rotliscliildi ; 

 and it appears from Mr. Kirby's notes that some of the bull giraffes 

 from the same locality have little or no third horn. This accordingly 

 demonstrates that in Portuguese East Africa a giraffe, closely allied to 

 and probably identical with G. c. tippelskirchi, is tending towards the 

 southern type in the characters of the skull, as is the typical tippels- 

 kirclii in the coloration of the limbs. 



In 1907 Mr. Frank Baden-Powell brought home the skin of the 

 first adult bull of the Kilimanjaro giraffe ever received in England. The 

 animal (fig. 71) was killed about sixty miles east of the Victoria Nyanza 

 and one hundred miles west of Nairobi. As Nairobi is close to 

 Lake Eyassa, where the type specimen was obtained, there can be no 

 doubt as to the variety to which Mr. Baden -Powell's giraffe belongs. 

 Fortunately a good photograph was obtained immediately after the 

 animal was shot. From the female in the British Museum Mr. Baden- 

 Powell's specimen differs by the more sparse spotting of the head, the 

 much more jagged or starred form of the spots on the neck and body, 

 and the white unspotted lower segment of the limbs. The Baringo 

 giraffe is known to be less heavily spotted on the head in fully adult 

 bulls than in younger animals, and the presence of spots on the lower 

 part of the legs of the Kilimanjaro race, and their disappearance in the 

 adult, is probably a feature analogous to what obtains in lions, in which 

 the cubs are always spotted, while the adults are generally self-coloured. 

 If this be so, the southern giraffe, in which the legs are always 

 spotted, will be the original form of the species. The front horn in 

 Mr. Baden-Powell's specimen appears to be small. 



The Congo giraffe (G. c. congoensis) from Katanga, Congo Free 

 State, is typified by an adult mounted bull in the Congo Museum 

 at Tervueren, near Brussels ; and is specially characterised by the 

 well -developed frontal horn, coupled with the full spotting of the 

 lower portion of the limbs (especially the hind-pair), of which the 

 ground-colour is grey-fawn, and the large size and subquadrangular 

 form of the body-spots, which show no tendency to split up into stars. 

 From the presence of a well-developed frontal horn, this giraffe is 

 clearly allied to the northern and eastern races of the species ; but, on 

 the other hand, it resembles the South African race (G. c. capensis] 

 in having the hind-legs spotted right down to the hoofs ; the fore- 

 limbs also displaying the same feature, although less distinctly. The 

 sides of the head are much more fully spotted than in the Cape form, 

 and the tail is remarkable for the great fulness of its terminal tuft. 

 In the spotting of the legs this giraffe resembles most specimens of 



