LAST DAYS ON THE SERENGETTI 273 



short tour, we found a good-sized herd, and setting 

 the camera up for slow-motion work, went after them. 

 On this occasion I secured eighty feet of pictures, 

 showing these odd but graceful animals running across 

 the screen in single file, giving a remarkable study of 

 their peculiar rocking-horse gait. An interesting fact 

 is that the long neck seems to take up the motions of 

 the body in such a way that it would be possible for 

 a giraffe to carry a glass of water balanced between liis 

 miniature horns without spiUing a drop. The head 

 seems to float along on an even keel, while the rest of 

 the body wiggles all over. The babies, no matter 

 how small, keep up with their parents, and once in 

 a while, becoming annoyed at eating all the dust, 

 the youngsters will put on an extra burst of speed 

 and rush around into the lead. Nature seems to have 

 so arranged matters that most of the African mammals 

 are able to run with the herds almost immediately 

 after birth. 



The giraffe is the tallest of living creatures, a full 

 grown bull towering as high as eighteen feet. They 

 are purely browsers, especially addicted to the leaves 

 of the camel's thorn, a species of acacia. Their 

 upper hp is prehensile; it is long, tough, and covered 

 with short hair, thus enabling them to browse on 

 their favorite trees without getting stung by the thorns. 

 They vary greatly in color and I have observed 

 in one herd individuals which were a light chestnut 

 shade and others of a dark brown. The markings 

 also differ considerably, once in a while a freakish 

 design being found. 



This animal must be mute, for during all of our 

 associations with him £md his family, we never heard 



16 



