+> Giraffes 



Giraffes dwell chiefly on the plains. About seven- 

 tenths of German East Africa represent an El Dorado 

 for giraffes. Here they find all the conditions of life 

 necessary to them. They can travel a long way from water, 

 as they can do without it for several days at a time. 

 During the rains they get as much water as they want 

 from the moist leaves. Their food consists chiefly of 

 foliage and of the thin branches of the different acacia- 



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trees, as well as the leaves and twigs of many other 

 trees. 



So far as I myself have been able to observe, the 

 giraffe never eats grass of any kind. Its anatomy and 

 build are not suggestive of a graminivorous animal. When 

 in captivity, ol course, giraffes are fed on hay and fresh 

 grass and clover, as are also elephants, rhinoceroses, and 

 other animals, as it is hard, unfortunately, to find branches 

 of trees and foliage in sufficient quantity for them. It is 

 astonishing that, in spite of all this, such animals are able 

 to live so many years in captivity ; but I have never found 

 them so well nourished in Europe as in their native 

 haunts. The particularly well-nourished "twigga" which 



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can be seen in my photographs became quite thin and 

 meagre in captivity, so that the neck vertebrae pro- 

 truded more and more. Their thriving to the extent 



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they do under such different conditions is a sign of great 

 adaptability. Very many of the large mammals are unable 

 to reconcile themselves to the altered food. It is with 

 the greatest difficulty that a large kudu is kept alive. 

 I have had much trouble in convincing even zoological 

 experts that giraffes in their free state were so shapely 



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