ii LIONS AND GIRAFFES 29 



colour and the arrangement of markings in giraffes. 

 That lions occasionally attack and kill giraffes is an 

 undoubted fact, and, as I shall relate in a subsequent 

 chapter, I have also known a case of a very young 

 giraffe having been attacked by two leopards ; but 

 in South Africa giraffes are found in the greatest 

 numbers in those parts of the country where, except 

 during the rainy season, there is very little surface 

 water, and where other species of game are far from 

 plentiful. Into such districts lions do not often 

 penetrate, and when giraffes are found in country 

 where there is plenty of water, zebras, buffaloes, and 

 antelopes of various kinds will also be numerous, 

 and these animals will certainly be preyed upon in 

 preference. At any rate, my own experience would 

 lead me to believe that although lions can and do 

 kill giraffes upon occasion, they do not habitually 

 prey upon these animals. Moreover, when giraffes 

 are killed by lions, they are in all probability 

 followed by scent and killed in the dark. 



Altogether, the theory that the colour of the 

 giraffe has been evolved by the necessity for con- 

 cealment and protection from the attacks of car- 

 nivorous animals does not seem to me to be at all 

 well supported by the life-history of that animal as 

 seen by a practical hunter ; but the fact that the 

 coloration of this remarkable animal assimilates 

 very well with the dull and monotonous shades of 

 the trees and bushes in the parched and waterless 

 districts it usually frequents, is a strong- argument 

 in favour of there being a law which, working 

 through the ages, tends to bring the colours of all 

 organic beings into harmony with their surround- 

 ings, irrespective of any special benefit they may 

 receive in the way of protection from enemies by 

 such harmonious coloration. 



Turning to the striped and spotted forest ante- 

 lopes inhabiting various parts of Africa, I think 



