OK API— GIRAFFES 103 



limbs as far down as the knees and hocks are transversely barred with broad 

 black and narrow white stripes arranged irregularly. Below the knees and hocks, 

 the limbs, with the exception of a black-banded ring round each pastern and a black 

 stripe down the front of each fore-leg, are white. A certain amount of individual 

 variation is noticeable in regard to the markings on the knees. 



The geographical range of the okapi, so far as at present ascertained, comprises 

 the western portion of the great Congo forest, more especially the outer fringe, and 

 extends from the Welle River on the southern verge of the Bahr-el-Ghazal province 

 to the Semliki Valley. 



Information with regard to the mode of life of the okapi is still comparatively 

 imperfect, although it is ascertained that the species is extremely shy and retiring, 

 and lives in such situations that it is almost impossible for a European to obtain 

 even a glimpse of it in the living state. The following brief account of the animal's 

 habits were given by one of the members of the ill-fated Alexander-Gosling 

 expedition from the Congo to the Nile : — 



" The okapi here is generally found singly or in pairs, but Mobatti hunters 

 state that sometimes three may be found together. An essential to the life of the 

 okapi is a small stream of water with some muddy and swampy ground on either 

 side. In this grows a certain large leaf that on its single stalk attains a height of 

 10 feet. It is the young leaf of this plant that is the favourite food of the okapi, 

 and I venture to say that where the plant is not to be found the animal will not 

 exist. During the night he will wander along in the mud and water in search of 

 it. Here he may be found feeding as late as 8 a.m. in the morning, after which 

 he retires to the seclusion of the forest, where he remains till nearly dusk. On 

 the three occasions that I was at close quarters with the beast he was perfectly 

 concealed in this swamp leaf." 



Like most forest-dwelling animals, okapis go about with the neck stretched 

 out and the head carried low. Their peculiar type of colouring is doubtless of a 

 protective nature, the striping of the legs and hind-quarters tending to break up 

 and obscure the outline of the animal, and thus render it more or less completely 

 invisible in covert. 



Equally protective is the spotted or net-like pattern of the skin 



Giraffes 



of the giraffe, of which the spotted type harmonises with the irregular 

 splashes of light and shade cast by the sun's rays piercing the groves of tall 

 mimosas among which these graceful animals so often dwell. In addition to this 

 characteristic type of colouring, giraffes differ from the okapi by their much 

 greater length of neck and limb, the inflated and vaulted skull, the large and full 

 eye, the presence of horns in both sexes and the absence from their summits of a 

 cap of uncovered bone, as well as by the frequent development of an unpaired 

 horn-like protuberance in the middle line of the face. 



Considerable interest attaches to the evolution of our knowledge of the local 

 variation presented by giraffes. Apparently the first specimen received in England 

 was a skin and part of the skeleton sent by Lieutenant W. Paterson, who travelled 

 in the Hottentot country between 1777 and 1779. This skin was exhibited in the 

 British Museum till about 1843. In 1827 a living giraffe was sent to George iv. at 

 Windsor by the Pasha of Egypt, of which there is a painting in the Royal 



