216 WILD ANIMALS. 



the frontal suture. As the Cape giraffe, or at least the skulls that 

 have been examined, have no such horn, this peculiarity in the 

 Nubian animal, if not an accidental deformity, would certainly 

 make them specifically distinct, " The existence of this third 

 appendage is considered to furnish a complete refutation to 

 Camper's theory with regard to the unicorn, namely, that such an 

 occurrence is contrary to nature, and to prove at least the 

 possibility of the existence of such an animal." ^ 



In the food these animals live upon we see the reason for many 

 of their peculiarities of structure. This is the leaves, shoots, 

 blossoms, and small topmost branches of the mimosa, acacia, and 

 other trees common in their native haunts from Nubia to the Cape, 

 for they confine themselves to the regions where such trees are 

 abundant, and their long necks enable them to reach, and their 

 prehensile tongues to grasp, the tender shoots. 



The neck, although so long, has only seven joints, requiring, 

 therefore, but little muscular effort to keep it erect. It has none 

 of the flexibility peculiar to the neck of the swan, but seems to 

 move on a pivot only. In the articulation of the skull to the neck, 

 however, considerable flexibility is apparent, for the animal is 

 able to throw back the head until it is almost in Kne with the 

 neck, thus forming a prolongation that confers upon it the power 

 of reaching to a greater height than would otherwise be possible. 

 The tongue is particularly worthy of notice, for its elasticity and 

 prehensile powers. According to Sir Everard Home's description 

 of it, besides being the organ of taste, it has many of the pro- 

 perties of the elephant's trunk, one being an elongation of the 

 organ of smell, the other of taste. The proboscis is incapable of 

 elongation, he observes, beyond one inch in extent, in consequence 

 of its cartilaginous tubes, while the giraffe's tongue can be ex- 

 tended to such an extent that one measured seventeen inches long 

 in a dead animal, yet when living could lie so diminished in size as 

 to be enclosed within the mouth. It can also be tapered to so 

 , fine a point that Mr. Davis says it can be inserted into the ring of 

 a very small key. The tongue is smooth, but at will can be made 

 rough by the raising of the papillse. The power of thrusting it so 



3 Knight's " Cyclopedia." 



