& 



io 4 THE MAMMALS OF ETHIOPIAN AFRICA 



collection. In 1836 the Zoological Gardens received four giraffes from the Sudan 

 whose descendants flourished till 1892. 



Although so far back as 1827 it had been recognised that the South 

 African and the Nubian giraffes were distinct, naturalists till a few years ago 

 ignored the difference, and were content to regard all giraffes as representing 

 Giraffa camelopardalis of Linnasus, which is based on the light-coloured, white- 

 legged, and three-horned race from Nubia. The subject of the distinction between 

 the northern and southern giraffes was, however, revived by an English naturalist, 

 who pointed out that, while the former is marked by whitish lines on a chestnut 

 ground and has the lower part of the legs white and carries a horn on the fore- 

 head, the latter has chocolate blotches on a buff ground, the legs tawny and 

 spotted to the fetlocks, and no third horn. At the same time was described, as 

 67. reticulata, the Somali giraffe, of Somaliland and the Lake Rudolf district, a 

 species characterised by the coarse network of white lines on a liver-coloured 

 ground. 



Next came the discovery that the giraffe of Mount Elgon is furnished with 

 rudimentary horns on the back of the head, and is thus five-horned. But it was 

 not till the British Museum received a bull and a cow that it was possible to 

 recognise the distinction of this Baringo race of giraffe (67. camelopardalis 

 rothschildi) from other forms of the species. One of its characteristics is the 

 difference between the markings of the two sexes, and the dark colour of the 

 blotches in the bulls ; but in its white legs and frontal horn the Baringo giraffe 

 approximates to the Nubian race. In the meanwhile German naturalists had not 

 been idle ; and the result of their investigations was to show the distinctness of 

 the Kilimanjaro giraffe (67. c. tippelslcirchi), which is the most fully spotted of all, 

 and is in many respects intermediate between the northern and southern types 

 having spotted tawny legs, accompanied by a third horn. The star-like form of 

 the spotting is the most distinctive feature of this race. Omitting mention of the 

 Angola, Congo, and Lado races, reference may be made to the Nigerian giraffe 

 (67. c, peralta), which is a pale representative of the northern type, characterised by 

 certain peculiarities in the markings. With the southern race (67. c. capensis) we 

 come to the blotched type of colouring, that is to say chocolate blotches on a tawny 

 ground ; the tawny legs being spotted to the hoofs, and the third horn represented 

 at most by a low swelling. 



An interesting intermediate type is presented by the giraffe of north-eastern 

 Rhodesia (67. c. thornier ofti), in which while the front horn is represented by a 

 mere boss, as in the North Transvaal giraffe (67. c. wardi), the lower part of the 

 legs is tawny with faint indications of spotting. There are likewise differences in 

 the form of the markings on the neck. The Rhodesian giraffe, which is quite 

 isolated, is of great interest as indicating the intimate gradation from the northern 

 and equatorial races towards the southern type. 



To put it shortly, the result of modern investigation is to show that instead 

 of there being merely a southern and a northern giraffe, with a modification of the 

 latter in Somaliland, there are a number of local phases which tend to exhibit a 

 transition from the northern to the southern type as we pass down the African 

 continent. That the recognition and description of such local variations has a 



