NEW AFRICAN ANIMAL DISCOVERED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11686, 22 June 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

NEW AFRICAN ANIMAL DISCOVERED.

. I in-: Times has an interesting article on a new animal which Sir Harry Johnston has discovered in the Semliki forests. "It is the size of an ox, and is distantly related to the giraffe. This remarkable creature, in fact, appears, so far as a cursory examination of its skin and skull may guide us, to be a living representative of the Helladotherium, a creature found in the fossil state in Greece and Asia. Minor, and supposed to be extinct. The skin and the skulls which have been forwarded by Sir Harry Johns!on to the British Museum were obtained by native, soldiers of the Congo Free State in the vicinity of Fort Mbeni. and were very kindly presented to Sir Harry Johnston by Mr. K. Eriksson, a Swedish officer in the service of that State, who has until recently been the Commandant of Fort Mbeni. The natives state that the creature is found only in the densest parts of the forest, and that it goes about in pairs of male and female, It would seem to be quite inoffensive, and very easily killed. It is ordinarily captured in pitfalls, and from what Sir Harry Johnston ascertained on the spot its extinction is being rapidly carried out by the natives of the Congo Free State. Xow that this discovery has been made by joint action on the pari' of British and Belgian officials, we may look with confidence to King Leopold to issue stringent orders for the protection of this remarkable creature. Its llesh is said to bo excellent eating, and there is no reason why an attempt should not be made to domesticate it."