THE CREATURE GOD FORGOT i6i 



time-killing task when I heard a rustle over my head. 

 I glanced out and fotmd myself looking into the 

 familiar brown eyes of a towering giraffe right above 

 me. Apparently he had found some succulent buds 

 among the fresh thorn branches that had been laid 

 over the roof of my retreat. He was startled, yes. 

 But there was no move of vicious defense as there 

 would have been on the part of every other animal 

 out there on the plain. Clearly he was sorry to have 

 intruded. I could almost see him bow slightly and 

 say in a low voice, "Really, I didn't know this was 

 your place. I beg your pardon, sir." Quietly he 

 moved away, gentle, voiceless and innocent of any de- 

 sire to work harm to any other living being in the land. 



A giraffe's water system seems to be built like that 

 of a camel. In the south country natives and guides 

 have told me that the giraffe never drinks. For 

 years I never saw one do so. Yet no one has ever 

 seen the gerenuk or the dik-dik drink. They get 

 their moisture from certain roots, cactus-like bushes, 

 trees that have a milky substance in them and from 

 the tender young buds of trees. 



One day in the Southern Game Preserve Blay- 

 ney Percival and I were talking about this curious 

 trait of the giraffe. Neither of us was sure what 

 the animal's drinking habits were; though we both 

 knew that it must imbibe moisture somehow or 

 other in order to live. 



