THE GIRAFFE. 213 



doubtedly tlie tallest, for they stand between fifteen and sixteen 

 feet high, and attain in some instances a height of eighteen feet. 



Griraffes belong to the ruminant order of mammals, and the 

 present existing species form in themselves a distinct family. In 

 some respects, however, they appear related to the deer tribe 

 {Gervidce), and in others to the oxen (Bovidce) and also to the camel. 



Fossil remains of extinct animals, apparently of the same species 

 as the giraffe, have been found in certain parts of Europe and 

 Asia. These beautiful creatures are now confined in their habita- 

 tion entirely to Africa. They are scarce animals, even in their true 

 home, and are only to be found on the great plains of the interior of 

 the southern part of the continent. Although they are to a certain 

 extent gregarious, they are nowhere to be met with in great 

 numbers. Some travellers report having seen herds containing 

 thirty and even forty individuals, but these are exceptional ones, 

 for they are more often described as varying from twelve to six- 

 teen. It is feared that the annihilation of these animals is not 

 far ofi", for they are even now rapidly disappearing through both 

 European and native sportsmen so constantly hunting them, the 

 latter class for the sake of the flesh, which they hold in high 

 esteem, and the thick skin, from which they make divers useful 

 articles, such as straps, and bottles to hold their supply of water, 

 and the former merely for the sake of killing. 



Gordon Gumming,^ describing the girafi"e, states : " Some writers 

 have discovered ugliness and a want of grace in the giraffe, but I 

 consider that he is one of the most strikingly beautiful animals in 

 the creation ; and when a herd of them is seen scattered through 

 a grove of picturesque parasol-topped acacias, which adorn their 

 native plains, and on whose uppermost shoots they are enabled to 

 browse by the colossal height with which Nature has so admirably 

 endowed them, he must indeed be slow of conception who fails to 

 discover both grace and dignity in all their movements. There can 

 be no doubt that every animal is seen to the greatest advantage in 

 the haunts which Nature destined him to adorn, and amongst the 

 various living creatures which beautify this fair creation I have 

 often traced a remarkable resemblance between the animal and 

 2 " Five Years of a Hunter's Life." 



