90 THE TALLEST MAMMAL. 



is given at sixteen feet, and that of the female at fourteen 

 feet, but this is certainly below the reality. For instance, 

 Mr. H. A. Bryden states that a female he shot in southern 

 Africa measured nearly seventeen feet to the summits 

 of the horns, while a male measured within less than 

 half an inch of nineteen feet ; Sir S. Baker, whose 

 experiences are derived from the north-eastern portion 

 of the continent, also asserting that a male will reach as 

 much as nineteen feet. From the evidence of a very 

 large, though badly preserved specimen in the Natural 

 History Museum, it may also be inferred that fine males 

 certainly reach the imposing height of over eighteen 

 feet. 



Although this towering stature is the most obvious 

 external feature of the giraffe, it is not one which would 

 of itself justify the naturalist in classing the animal as the 

 representative of a family apart from other ruminants ; 

 and we must accordingly inquire on what grounds such 

 separation is made. On the whole, the most distinctive 

 structural peculiarity of the giraffe is to be found in the 

 nature of its horns. These, as mentioned in the preceding 

 chapter, are quite unlike those of any other living 

 ruminant, and take the form of a pair of upright bony 

 projections arising from the summit of the head in 

 both sexes, and completely covered during life with skin. 

 In the immature condition separate from the skull, these 

 horns become in the adult firmly attached to the latter ; 

 while below them, in the middle of the forehead, is another 

 lower and broader protuberance, sometimes spoken of as a 

 third horn. Obviously, these horns for want of a better 

 name are quite unlike the true horns of the oxen and 

 antelopes, or the antlers of the deer ; and this essential 

 difference in their structure is alone quite sufficient to 

 justify the reference of the giraffe to a family all by itself. 

 When, however, we come to inquire whether the creature 

 is more nearly akin to the deer or to the hollow-horned 

 ruminants (as the oxen, antelopes, and their allies 

 are termed), we have a task of considerable difficulty. 

 Belying mainly on the structure of its skull, and its 

 low-crowned grinding teeth, which are invested with 



