CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 9. RUMINANTIA. 555 



foot or two shorter. The height at the withers is about ten feet in large animals, while the length 

 of the body, from the breast to the rump, is not more than six or seven. The ground color of the 

 skin is yellowish, but it is covered with large spots and patches of lighter and darker brown, which 

 give it a very elegant appearance. It is a native of the eastern parts of Africa, from the Cape 

 northward as far as Nubia. It lives in small herds upon the plains, always in the neighborhood 

 of woods, as it feeds almost entirely upon the tender shoots and leaves of trees, which the great 

 length of its neck enables it to reach with ease. The tongue also is very extensible, and is em- 

 ployed as a prehensile organ, and the large, free lips can be used in the same way. 



The giraffe is not a very swift animal, and when pursued its gallop is described as exceedingly 

 ludicrous, the hind-legs being brought forward at each step completely in advance of the anterior 

 ones, apparently a foot or two on the outside of them ; in this fashion the giraffes contrive to get 

 over the ground pretty rapidly, with a curious springing motion. They are easily overtaken by a 

 good horse, and the rider may then select his victim from the herd, cut it off from its companions, 

 and shoot it at his leisure. "When going at full speed the heels of the giraffe constantly throw 

 up dirt, sticks, and stones in the faces of its nearest pursuers, but it never appears to attempt to 

 defend itself unless brought to bay ; in this case its weapons are its hoofs, with which it kicks 

 out so rapidly and vigorously that dogs will not venture to attack it, and it is even said that it 

 can beat off the lion in the same manner. The flesh of these animals, when young, is considered 

 very good ; that of the old ones is coarse. The skin is very thick and highly valued by the 

 natives of South Africa, who consider the leather formed from it to be the best material for san- 

 dal soles. They also use the skin in the formation of vessels to hold water, and sometimes as a 

 covering for their huts. 



dimming gives us the following lively description of the giraffe, at liberty in his native regions: 

 "These gigantic and exquisitely beautiful animals, which are- admirably formed by nature to 

 adorn the forests that clothe the boundless plains of the interior, are widely distributed through- 

 out the interior of Southern Africa, but are nowhere to be met with in great numbers. In coun- 

 tries unmolested by the intrusive foot of man, the giraffe is found generally in herds varying from 

 twelve to sixteen ; but I have not unfrequently met with herds containing thirty individuals, and 

 on one occasion I counted forty together; this, however, was owing to chance, and about sixteen 

 may be reckoned as the average number of a herd. These herds are composed of giraffes of 

 various sizes, from the young giraffe of nine or ten feet in height, to the dark chestnut-colored 

 old bull of the herd, whose exalted head towers above his companions, generally attaining to a 

 height of upward of eighteen feet. The females are of lower stature, and more delicately framed 

 than the males, the height of the latter averaging from sixteen to seventeen feet. Some writers 

 have discovered ugliness and a want of grace in the giraffe, but I consider that he is one of the 

 most strikingly beautiful animals in the creation ; and when a herd of them is seen scattered 

 through a grove of the picturesque parasol-topped acacias which adorn their native plains, and on 

 whose uppermost shoots they are enabled to browse by the colossal height with which nature 

 has so admirably endowed them, he must, indeed, be slow of conception who fails to discover both 

 grace and dignity in all their movements. There can be no doubt that every animal is seen to 

 the greatest advantage in the haunts which nature destined him to adorn, and among the various 

 living creatures which beautify creation I have often traced a remarkable resemblance between 

 the animal and the general appearance of the locality in which it is found. 



"In the case of the giraffe, which is invariably met with among venerable forests, where in- 

 numerable blasted and weather-beaten trunks and stems occur, I have repeatedly been in doubt 

 as to the presence of them, until I had recourse to my spy-glass ; and on referring the case to my 

 savage attendants I have known even their optics to fail, at one time mistaking these dilapidated 

 trunks for camelopards, and again confounding real camelopards with these aged veterans -of the 

 forest." 



Several giraffes have lived for some years in the London Zoological Gardens and the Garden 

 of Plants at Paris. They have even bred several times, and the young animals have thriven 

 admirably. The female goes with young about fourteen months, and produces a single young 

 one at a birth ; this, when born, measures nearly six feet from the head to the root of the tail. 



