632 



GIRAFFE. 



the legs and the neck, which answer to each other. 

 Behind the animal is not so high, and in that part it 

 appears lower than it really is, as the hind legs are 

 partially bent when the animal is browsing at the full 

 stretch of its neck. On the other hand, when it feeds 

 on the ground, which it can do much more easily 

 than is generally supposed, it has to diminish the 

 height forwards by setting the fore feet apart from 

 each other, as is done by the young of the horse in 

 their first attempts to graze. 



Altogether the appearance of these animals, though 

 peculiar, is very graceful. The body is short, com- 

 pact, and well filled up and rounded. The limbs are 

 clean, but at the same time strong and muscular, and 

 the form of the neck and its union with the head are 

 very symmetrical. The head is light and airy in 

 appearance, and has not the least appearance of being 

 a burden on the neck, as is the case with some other 

 ruminants. The ears, which are long and have a 

 good deal of motion, are handsomely formed. The 

 eyes are large and clear; and it is placed in a peculiar 

 manner, occupying so prominent a place on the sides 

 of the head that they command perhaps more of the 

 horizon than those of any other animal. In this re- 

 spect they bear some resemblance to the eyes of the 

 hare ; and they appear .to answer a purpose some- 

 thing similar that of watching against danger from 

 behind, which is the" chief danger to which this fleet 

 and strong but inoffensive and gentle animal is 

 exposed. 



The* colours of the giraffe are disposed in a very 

 pleasing manner. The ground colour is whitish, but 

 with a tinge of warm cream colour, and the spots, 

 which are brown and nearly square in shape, give it 

 the appearance of being cross-barred with the paler 

 colour. When young the sexes resemble each other 

 in their colours ; but as they advance, the spots on 

 the male become of a dark brown, while those on the 

 female retain more of their original rust-coloured tint. 

 Both are, however, subject to some varieties of colour, 

 perhaps in proportion as they are differently exposed 

 to the action of the sun. 



The hair on the body is short, and lies flat and 

 smooth on the skin ; but the neck and upper part of 

 the back are furnished with a short mane. At each 

 side of the commencement of this mane on the occi- 

 put, there is a bony tubercle on the skull, which 

 tubercles appear as the rudiments of a second pair of 

 horns ; so that if we include the flat one in front, 

 there are bases for five horns on the head of the 

 giraffe, though there is not a true horn on any of them. 

 The tail is strong, reaching beyond the heels, sort 

 haired for the greater part of its length, but furnished 

 with a handsome brush of strong hairs at the tip. 

 The true hoofs are firm and strong, and of a black 

 colour, and, as we have already observed, there are 

 no false hoofs. Though the animal is by no means 

 rare in its native localities, it is so shy in a state of 

 nature, and so well formed for getting speedily out of 

 sight, that its economy is but little understood. The 

 common report is, however, that the female goes 

 twelve months, and never has more than one at a 

 birth. 



Giraffes, at least as well ascertained, are confined 

 to Africa, though some of the authorities mention 

 them as also occurring in Asia, but in what par- 

 ticular place of Asia is not stated ; it is not impossi- 

 ble, however, that they may exist in some unexplored 

 parts of the warm regions of that quarter of the world, 



which resemble in climate, seasons, and productions, 

 their African haunts. The pertinacity with which it 

 was long maintained that no lion existed in any part 

 of India, and the discovery of several of these animals 

 after the country became a little better explored, 

 should teach us to pause before we positively decide 

 what tropical production, whether animal or vegeta- 

 ble, does not exist in so extensive and so varied a 

 country as India. 



At present, however, we know the giraffe only aa 

 an African animal ; and there chiefly as an animal of 

 the southern parts, at least to the countries to the 

 southward of the desert. It is not found on the coast 

 of Guinea, where there are more frequent rains and 

 greater fertility but a less healthy climate, than far 

 into the interior, and nearer the Great Desert ; nor does 

 it appear that the giraffe is any where found on low 

 and marshy grounds. Indeed the form of its feet, 

 and its structure taken altogether, are ill adapted for 

 such places ; and any one who examines even a tole- 

 rably well executed figure would at once decide that 

 the giraffe inhabits dry pastures, and breeds upon firm 

 ground. Its numbers in central Africa, south of the 

 desert and south-west of Abyssinia, have not been 

 very clearly ascertained ; but it certainly does range 

 in latitudes from about that parallel southward to the 

 confines of the Cape Territory, where it is not unfre- 

 quently met with in the woods near Orange River. 

 The natives, especially the wild bushmen, hunt it 

 with considerable avidity. The flesh of the young 

 ones is described as being both tender and of good 

 flavour ; and though the old ones may, from the 

 vigour of their muscles, and the heavy exercise which 

 these undergo, be a little tougher, we may naturally 

 enough suppose that they would be acceptable to a 

 people who do not hesitate to make a meal of the 

 lion himself. The most valuable parts are, however 

 understood to be the skin, as an article of domestic 

 economy, and the marrow of the long bones as a 

 luxury in the way of eating. The skin is described 

 as being very tough, hard, and durable ; and to those 

 who like luxuries in the way of fat, the marrow is said 

 to be a bonne bouche. It is generally in the way of 

 curiosities, however, that the skins of these animals 

 find their way, by the Cape of Good Hope, to 

 Europe ; and it was not till a comparatively recent 

 period that these were common even in museums ; 

 and they were generally so mutilated that it was not 

 easy to make out the characters of the animal from 

 them. An opportunity was afforded some time ago 

 to the curious in this country of correcting any mis- 

 takes that may have been made in this way, by the 

 arrival of a living specimen, as a present to his late 

 Majesty George IV. This one lived for some time 

 in this country ; but either the climate, the food, or 

 both, did not agree with it, and it died. Its remains 

 have, however, been preserved ; for being presented 

 to the Zoological Society of London, that society had 

 the skin stuffed, and the skeleton set up in its proper 

 arrangement and attitude ; so that any one who 

 chooses to visit the Society's Museum in Bruton 

 Street may have an opportunity of studying a giraffe 

 " skin and bone," if not in flesh and blood and its 

 living economy. 



In their native country those animals show their 

 peaceable disposition in being partially gregarious. 

 They are found in small flocks of about five or six ; 

 and from what has been said of the period of gesta- 

 tion, and the single young one at a birth, these cannot 



