336 UNGULATES. 



expression of a fallen giraffe, and whose hearts are so hardened as not feel some 

 compunction at thus ruthlessly destroying one of the noblest specimens of 

 nature's handiwork. 



Mr. Selous expresses his admiration at the sight of a herd of giraffes galloping 

 before the hunter in the following words. On the occasion to which he refers, his 

 horse was not a particularly good one, and the pace consequently not very great. 

 Eventually he got, however, within one hundred yards of his quarry, and he then 

 writes that " even in the ardour of the chase it struck me as a glorious sight to see 

 these huge beasts dashing along in front, clattering over the stones, or bursting a 

 passage through opposing bushes, their long, graceful necks stretched forwards, 

 sometimes bent almost to the earth to avoid horizontal branches, and their bushy 

 black tails twisted up over their backs. And how easily and with what little 

 exertion they seemed to get over the ground, with that long, sweeping stride of 

 theirs ! Yet they were going at a great rate, for I felt that my old nag was doing 

 his best, and I could not lessen the distance between us by an inch." 



All who have eaten of it, testify to the excellence of the flesh of the giraffe ; 

 and we have already made mention of the value attached to its hide. 



The giraffe thrives well in captivity, where it breeds readily. 

 On the morning of May 24th, 1836, those Londoners who happened to 

 be passing along what was then called the New Road, were startled by the appear- 

 ance of four giraffes, with their Nubian attendants, on their way from the docks to 

 the Zoological Society's Gardens in the Regent's Park. Of these four individuals 

 three were males and one a female ; and they respectively lived till the years 1837, 

 1846, 1849, and 1852. Between 1836 and 1892 the Zoological Society had upwards 

 of thirty giraffes in their menagerie, no less than seventeen of which were bred and 

 born there. One of the latter which was born in the spring of 1846 lived till 

 January 1867, or close upon twenty-one years. The last of this series of giraffes 

 died in March 1892, and owing to the inaccessible condition of the Sudan at the 

 present time, it has hitherto been found impossible to replace its loss. 



Fossil giraffes are found in the Pliocene rocks of Greece, Persia, 

 Extinct Giraffes. ... 



the Siwalik Hills at the foot of the Himalaya, and China. All these 



extinct forms appear to have been closely allied to the living African species, 

 although in some instances the length of the limbs seems to have been proportion- 

 ately somewhat less. 



Extinct Mammals allied to the Giraffe. 



In addition to the fossil giraffes just mentioned, there are other extinct 

 Mammals from the Pliocene formations of Europe and Asia which, while evi- 

 dently referable to the same group of Ruminants, must be assigned to distinct 

 genera. 



One of the most giraffe-like of these creatures is the helladothere of Greece, a 

 hornless animal, of larger dimensions than the giraffe, but with a shorter neck and 

 limbs. The limbs agree, however, with those of the latter in the great proportionate 

 length of the front pair, and the skull has a considerable general resemblance, 

 although with a smaller development of cells in the bones of the forehead, and 



