I70 EVOLUTION IN THE PAST 



These ruminants are the first known members of the Giraffe 

 family. A few of them, excepting that they were shorter 

 hmbed, seem to have borne a more or less close resemblance 

 to modern forms (G. attica). Most of them, however, held 

 strong affinities both with antelope and deer, and were far 

 from having attained the stately and unique appearance of 

 modern giraffes. They were much shorter in the neck ; and 

 the limbs were not only shorter, but of nearly equal length. 

 Well-developed horns, moreover, crowned the heads of some 

 of the animals {Samotherium, Palceotragus). These weapons, 

 no doubt, were manageable, but as the neck became elon- 

 gated their efficiency must have been reduced. Indeed, in 

 some of the longer-necked Pliocene forms, living in Europe, 

 the horns had become insignificant (Helladotherium). It is 

 not surprising, therefore, that modern giraffes — extremely 

 necky animals — possess horns only in vestigial condition. Not 

 one of the known primitive species seems to have survived the 

 Phocene Period. But it is an interesting fact that at the 

 present time animals closely allied to them are living in 

 primeval forests of the Congo. This discovery was made by 

 the intrepid traveller Sir Harry Johnston in 1901. The 

 name of " Okapi " has been bestowed on the animals by 

 Sir E. Ray Lankester, who has no doubt of their relationship 

 to primitive giraffes. Their outward appearance is certainly 

 very different from that of other giraffes now living, as they 

 are striped, not spotted ; and, like Pliocene forms, they are 

 comparatively short in the neck. They live, it is stated, in 

 the deepest recesses of the forests — victimised, it may be 

 supposed, by civilisation. 



HORSES Horses were now to be seen on the plains with more com- 

 pact feet than the Miocene forms (Hipparion). The " extra " 

 toes were quite off the ground, and dangled at the sides of 

 the well-developed central toe as useless appendages. Simi- 

 larly developed horses were certainly in North America in 

 Miocene times, so the European animals were only following 

 in the wake of the American. Horses more highly developed 

 were living elsewhere in this Period, as will be noted shortly. 



TAPIRS Tapirs of the Eocene notably differed from tapirs now 

 living merely in regard to teeth and toes. As the toe differ- 



