332 
UNGULATES. 
remarkable for its great length, and the distance it can be protruded beyond the 
lips; thus acting as a grasping organ of considerable power. From the nape of 
the neck to the withers runs a relatively short and erect mane; and the tail is of 
considerable length, and terminates in a large tuft of long hair. The feet of the 
giraffe are large and heavy, and have no trace of lateral hoofs. 
The coloration of the South- 
African giraffe takes the form of a 
number of large blotches or patches 
of some shade of chestnut or brown, 
irregularly distributed over a paler 
tawny ground-colour; the face being 
uniformly brownish, while the under¬ 
parts, the inner surfaces of the limbs, 
and the lower portion of the limbs, are 
whitish and devoid of darker blotches. 
The mane is chestnut-coloured, but 
the tuft at the end of the tail is 
blackish. It is this variety which is 
represented in our coloured Plate, and 
in the woodcut on p. 334. On the 
other hand, the North-African giraffe 
may be described as a chestnut- 
coloured animal, marked by a net¬ 
work of fine tawny lines. A 
full-grown bull giraffe may measure 
as much as 18 or even 19 feet from 
the soles of the feet to the summit 
of the head, while females are a foot 
or two lower. We must not omit 
to mention that, as a general rule, the 
liver of the giraffe is unprovided with 
a gall-bladder; the animal agreeing 
in this respect with the deer, and 
differing from the prongbuck and 
the hollow-horned Ruminants. 
The giraffe is con- 
Distribution. ^ q£ 
the Sahara, and was formerly dis¬ 
tributed in open districts throughout 
the greater portion of that continent, 
although absent from the thickly-wooded regions of the West Coast, its range 
extending from the Cape in the south to Abyssinia and Nubia in the north. Like 
the gemsbok and eland, the giraffe frequents more or less desert-like regions; 
but of late years its range has been greatly restricted, more especially in South 
and Central Africa, where Mr. Bryden considers that it will be almost exterminated 
within the next twenty years. 
SKELETON OF GIRAFFE. 
