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CHAPTER XV 



OSTRICHES AND GIRAFFES 

 Bv F. J. JACKSON 



THE two species of game most difficult to approach are the 

 giraffe and the ostrich. Their watchfulness and powers of scent 

 equal those of other game, and if anything their sight is even 

 more extraordinary. Besides these wonderfully developed 

 senses, they possess a tremendous advantage over other game 

 in their great height, being able to easily see over covert amply 

 sufficient to conceal the approach of the stalker from the view 

 of other animals. 



Giraffes ( Giraffa camelopardalis) were a few years ago fairly 

 numerous in places suited to their habits, but I am told that 

 a good many of them have fallen victims to the same disease 

 which has destroyed the buffaloes. Still there are plenty left. 

 Giraffes are very partial to the table-topped mimosas, on which 

 they principally feed, and should be sought for in places where 

 these trees abound. As a rule, they are found in small herds 

 of six or eight, sometimes up to twenty or more, but solitary 

 individuals are occasionally met with. 



Giraffes kept in confinement give very little idea of the adult 

 beast in a wild state. The wild one is not only much taller, 

 but very much more bulky, and would weigh at least half 

 as much again as any beast that was until lately to be 

 seen in the Zoological Gardens. They are also very much 

 darker in colour. The meat of the giraffe is not, as a rule, 

 much appreciated by the Zanzibari porters, and some of them 

 will not touch it. This is not from any religious or superstitious 



