700 
AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 
on the rump the beginning of the gridiron or transverse 
pattern of stripes which in the Grevy are lengthened out 
and extend below the hips. 
Dolichohippus is confined to the low desert area of 
northern British East Africa and southeastern Abyssinia. 
The range is so limited and uniform in climatic conditions 
that but a single species, grevyi , is recognizable. 
Grevy Zebra 
Dolichohippus grevyi 
Native Names: Swahili, kangani: Samburru, kanga. 
Equus grevyi Oustalet, 1882, La Nature, X, p. 12, figs. 2. 
Range. —From the Northern Guaso Nyiro drainage and 
the north bank of the Tana River northward to Lake Zwai 
in Abyssinia, westward to the eastern shore of Lake Rudolf 
and the Omo River, and east to the limits of Abyssinia, but 
not known to occur actually within British Somaliland. 
The kings of Abyssinia have from the very earliest 
times sent as gifts from time to time living specimens of 
the Grevy zebra to rulers of friendly European nations. 
This custom early introduced the zebra to European civiliza¬ 
tion. The zebra shown in the Roman amphitheatre is sup¬ 
posed to have been this species and to be the one referred 
to by the ancients as Hippotigris. Menelik, the late ruler 
of Abyssinia, sent several specimens to various heads of 
government in Europe and America. One of these sent to 
President Grevy, of France, was described by Oustalet in 
1882 and named for the chief executive. Although the 
Grevy was without doubt the first species of zebra to 
be known to Europe, it remained unknown, or rather un¬ 
named, until described in 1882. Linnaeus, who founded 
our modern system of binomial nomenclature, mentioned 
in 1758 only the mountain zebra, to which he gave the 
specific name zebra, a name virtually applicable primarily 
to the present species. The Abyssinians appear to have a 
special fondness for the large Grevy zebra, which is the 
only one they capture, although the smaller, broad-striped 
