Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/637

Rh GIRAFFE given rise to the erroneous impression that the fore legs of the giraffe are longer than the pair behind. Its feet ter- minate in a divided hoof, which, says Sir Samuel Butler, “is as beautifully proportioned as tl1at of the smallest gazelle”; and the accessory hoofs found in 111ost ruminants are entirely awanting. Its head is small, its eyes large and lustrous; and these, which give to the giraffe its peculiarly gentle appearance, are capable of a certain degree of lateral projection, wl1icl1 enable the creature without turning its head to see around and to a certain extent behind it. The elevated eyes of the giraffe thus enjoy a wider range of vision than those of any other quadruped. Its nostrils are provided with a peculiar mechanism of sphincter muscles, by which they can be opened or closed at will, and the animal is thus enabled to avoid the injurious effects of the sand storms which occasionally pass over its native haunts. __ D _"-  “.11 -_..'_ Giraffe. Its tongue is remarkable for its great length, measuring about 17 inches in the dead animal, and for its great elas- ticity and power of muscular contraction while living. It is covered with numerous large przpillm, and forms, like the trunk of the elephant, an il'.l1llll",'ll)lC organ for the examina- tion and prehension of its food. The graceful appearance presented by the giraffe, to which it owes its name through the Arabian Xiraplza, is greatly heightened by the orange- red colour of its hide, mottled as it is all over with darker spots ; while in its long tail, ending in a luxurious tuft of dark-coloured hair, it possesses an admirable ﬂy-whipper, without which it would probably be impossible for the giraffe to maintain its ground against the seroot ﬂy and other stinging insects of central Africa. It lives on open plains in the neighbourhood of low woods, high forest being scrupulously avoided, as depriving it of the exten- 619 sive prospect which forms its chief defence against the attacks of its two great enemies——the lion and man. It feeds almost exclusively on the foliage of trees, showing a preference for certain varieties of mimosa, and for the young shoots of the prickly acacia, for browsing on which the pre- hensile tongue and large free lips of the giraffe are specially adapted. It is gregarious in its habits, living in small herds rarely of more than twenty individuals, although Sir S. Baker, who hunted it in Abyssinia, states that he has seen as many as a hundred thus herding together. There is probably no animal more difficult of approach than the giraffe, owing to that exceeding wariness which prompts it to place sentinels to give the herd timely warning of approaching danger, as well as to its ability, from the elevated position of its eyes, and the openness of the ground it frequents, to see danger, and from its keenness of scent to smell it from afar. It is a ﬂeet though by no means graceful runner, its awkward, shambling gait being due to its moving the fore and hind legs of the same side simultane- ously. In hunting it on horseback the rule to be observed, according to the traveller already mentioned, is to press the giraffe the instant he starts; “it is the speed that tells upon him, and the spurs must be at work at the very commence- ment of the hunt, and the horse pressed along at his best pace; it must be a race at top speed fron1 the very start, but should the giraffe be allowed the slightest advantage for the ﬁrst five minutes the race will be against the horse.” In pursuing it thus on horseback the experienced hunter avoids too close an approach to the creature’s heels, a blow from which he has probably learnt to regard, with Dr Livingstone, as leaving little to choose between it and “a clap from the arm of a windmill.” Although trusting for safety to ﬂight, it will, when brought to bay, even turn upon the lion; and not seldom does it defend itself successfully against his attacks by the vigorous blows of its powerful limbs. It is, however, powerless against the “king of beasts” when taken unawares, and with this object the latter lies in wait by the banks of streams, and springs upon the giraffe as it seeks to quench its thirst. In captivity it is said to make use of its skin-covered horns as weapons of defence, giving impetus to the blow, not by depressing and then ele- vating the head, as in the butting of an ox or sheep, but by a sidelong swing of its muscular neck. The skin of the giraffe is in many parts so thick that the bullet of the hunter often fails to pierce it-, the surest method of hunting it being that pursued by the Hamran Arabs of Abyssinia, who run it down, and when galloping at full speed cut the tendons of its legs, or “hamstring” it-, as this operation is called, with their broadswords, and thus completely disable it. The giraffe is only found wild in Africa, where it ranges throughout the open country of Ethiopia as far south as the conﬁnes of Cape Colony. Until about ﬁfty years ago it was almost totally unknown in Europe ; it is now, however, to be found in most of the European zoological gardens, where it appears to thrive as well on corn and hay as on the mimosas of its native haunts. It also breeds freely in con- ﬁnement, so that it may now be regarded as acclimatized in Europe. The giraffe family was more largely represented and enjoyed a wider distribution during the Miocene period, fossil remains of extinct species having been found in Greece and the Siwalik Hills; while an allied genus, Helladotlzerium, with less neck and more body than the ex- isting giraffe, extended during the same period from the south of France to north-west India. The skin of the giraffe forms a valuable leather material, that made from the thicker parts being in special request for sandals; its ﬂesh, according to Sir S. Baker, was, when roasted, the best he had ever tasted; the tendons of its long legs are valued by the Arabs as thread for sewing