THE GIRAFFE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144198, 15 September 1913, Page 7

THE GIRAFFE.

AN INTERESTING ANIMAL. IN AFRICA AND IN CAPTIVITY,

(London Times.) For a long timo onr discriminating ancestors declined to beliovo in tho giraffe. It was too much for their credulity; and not unreasonably, for what Thomas Hood called “tho great anti-climax”— So very lofty in tho front, So dwindling at the tail, is, in truth, an improbable beast. People who cheerfully accepted tho basilisk and cockatrice and unicorn drew tho lino at so demonstrably mythical a thing as the giraffe. Heraldry, indeed, adopted it under the name of the camelopard (or camel-leopard), not, however, in the form of the authentic beast, but mixing up camels and leopards into divers charming incongruities. and even on occasions adding long eloping horns to it, of tho oryx type. This agrccahlo creature was called tho “camclopardel.” But tho real giraffe was practically unknown to Europe from Roman days until tho 19th century. It is true that one is said to havo been given by tho Prince of Damascus to Frederick 11. in 1215; and Lorenzo the Magnificent had another from tho Soldan of Egypt two centuries and a half later, which latter animal used to bo allowed to walk the streets of Florence and “take tho presents of fruit and cakes extended to it from tho balconies.” But there was not much reason why in the 15lh century England should believe in a giraffe in Florence ,uiv more than.it believed in giraffes in tfio Sudan; an;l our forefathers wisely decided that 18ft. ,of spotted quadruped with 6ft. of neck was contrary to reason. Hail it had wings to bring it more in with the customary dragons of tho day,” it might perhaps havo been moro credible; but as it was, a “mere zebra gone to seed,” it was not sufficiently unlikely to endear it to the fanciful, while too palpably improbable to commend itself to science.

Great then, was tho sensation when in 1827 tho Pasha of Egypt sent four living camelopards as presents to Constantinople, Venice, England and Franco respectively. Tho English ono ■was sickly and soon died, but that accredited to Paris achieved such an instantaneous success as might have aroused the.jealousy of Chantoclor himself, for “men and women,” wo arc told, “wore gowns and gloves and waistcoats of'the colour of its-spots.” Nino years-later tho. Zoological Society .■succeeded, through tho agency of SI. Thibaut, in getting safely to London four giraffes, which were escorted hither with much ccremoniousncss and under aegis of the Admiralty- itself. Of all large mammals the-giraffe takes, perhaps, most kindly to captivity, living to a good age and breeding freely in confinement, so that some 19 fawns vin all havo been born in Regent’s Park sinco those four camo hero in 1836. ■ Their descendants, indeed, kept tho Gardena well supplied for over W) years in epito of the tact that in 1866 two were burned or suffocated in their stable by tho catching fire of their ■ straw. In tho spring of 1892, however, tho last two members of tho old strain died, and then again for ten years, chiefly because tho Malidi bad made importation inconvenient from the Sudan, London was giraffeless. 'With tho five which aro in tho Gardens , now, two of which aro males and throe ; females, there is every reason to hope that tho breed -will ho maintained for i another long period, even though tho , giraffe seems never to havo more than ■one young, at a tine. Ono young ono was horn in the Gardens early this year, but it has sinco died; and tho . baby of tho household is still tho Sir■dar’s giraffe, which, though it has been jin Regent’s Park now for nearly a ijjcar, is hut a little-tot of a thing not jmuch ovor'Sft. tall. ;UTS'LACK OF FIGHTING QUALITY. It is-to -bo hoped that tho stock may ibo long successfully maintained, for tho itimo may como when its continuance brill bo a matter of tho greatest urgency. The “proud camelopard” is a Kjecaturo ill-fitted to survive in tho jstr-ugijlo against civilisation, and tho ;,jprioo scorns to bo already in sight renon, except in zoological gardens or largo preserves, it may well become extinct. The excitement wasimmoase when tho Roman populace, in tho days of J-ulius Caesar, heard that so marvelloas a boast as a cross between a camel and a leopard was coming to tako part in tho combats in tho arena. What a doaastating monster might not such a pnriigy prove itself! For no ono ©x-ph-Snod to tho multitude that tho only cl»»raetoristic of tho leopard which the giraffe possessed was not ferocity but sprits. Disgust with its lamentable lack of fighting quality was therefore as profound as anticipation had been high. “It.mas,” Pliny' tells us, “as tame as a sheep” ; and well it might haws been, for nature lias given the giraffe neither weapons for nor inclination to offence.

Giraffes can, indeed, kick, as Mr. Bcdiard says, “with viciousncss and vigour,” and ono can well believo that a blow from ono of tho hind feet would bo “like a clap from a windmill.” Also they can, when cornered, stamp or strike with their forefeet, as do all tho largo doer to which tho giraffo is not distantly allied; and Mr. Selous has told how a mother giraffe, when endeavouring to save her fawn from tho attack of Icopamds, broke, by a bad shot, her own childls back. When fighting among themselves, moreover, they are said to uso their heads like huge flails, not pounding downwards as with a hammer, but siijinging sideways; and a blow from ono ofc the great skulls slinging at the end of that length of neck must bo at least a disconcerting thing. But, after all, the giraffo is not a fighter; and bath lions and leopards undoubtedly prey upon it, though probably not as often as they would liko to do, for even to human palates, tho meat of a cow giraffe is extremely good. Sir Samuel Baker said it was tho “best meat lie had over tasted,” Mr. Baldwin called it “really delicious eating,” and Mr. Cotton Oswcli, Mr. Selous, and Mr. Neumann testify alike to its excellence. These culogia on tho gastronomic virtues of giraffes, however, do not extend to the aid bulls, in which tho small which is characteristic of tho species and is generally pleasant (though it often terrifies horses), becomes so strong that the Boors knew them by tho unappetising name of “stink bulls.” It may bo some chemical affinity which makes giraffes so passionately fond, as they aro said to bo, of onions? THE ADVANTAGES OF HEIGHT.

That lions do eat giraffes when opportunity offers all hunters aro agreed, and Anderson, actually saw a troop of fivo lions pull down a full-grown camelopard, two of them doing the actual fighting, while three others stood by and watched, ready to help if needed. iluL'it,fiaimat bo a common occur-

■renco. For one thing, the giraffe generally lives further from water than tho lion cares to go, so that some authorities aver that it can do without drinking “for months.” And apart from its ability to live in remote waste places, tho chief protection of the giraffe from its enemies lies first in its Uectness of foot (its name in Arabic is said to signify “tho one who goes swiftly”), ana still more in its keenness of vision. Every visitor to tho Zoo has admired the largo and beautiful eyes, which aro so soft and lustrous that moro than one hunter has recorded how, on looking into them when his quarry had fallen, he felt like “a kind of murderer”—as indeed he was. Sir Francis Gallon discovered that giraffes aro short-sighted in tho dusk, and that then it is possible to approach and shoot the great creatures on foot. But in tho daylight they aro conspicuously keen of vision, and they have, moreover, tho advantage that they aro always, so to speak, posted in a watchtower. They pass their lives, as one writer says, “looking out of fourthstory windows.” Wo seldom consider how limited must be the range of vision of most quadrupeds whoso heads aro so near to tho ground; and even human beings if they would spy out a now land must find a handy hill-top or climb a tree. But tho giraffe is in and above tho tree-tops already, and when a troop arc feeding together, like many other animals, they usually post a sentinel, a largo bull, who, talcing his stand upon "some hillock or anthill,” adds thereby an odd foot or two to his already not inadequate stature (the “record” giraffe measured iSft. 7in. in height) and looks, as Sir Harry Johnston says, much moro like a tall blasted tree trank than a living animal. Sir Samuol Baker also tells how he frequently mistook giraffes for tree trunks until they began to move. Wo know how the giraffe attained its unusual inches—

A door with a nock that was longer ,hy half Than the rest of his family—try not to laugh 1— , . By stretching and stretching became a giraffe—

and its length of neck is of great use to it, not only for browsing on thoitreotops, but also for tho wido view that it gives to it over tho landscape; but, as nothing in life is clear gain, iVhas also its disadvantages. Greatness, as philosophers havo observed, is ever solitary. Not only is it so extremely inconvenient for tho giraffe to got its nose to tho ground that ono is not surprised that it drinks as seldom as .possible, but in tbo exalted circle in-which ■it moves above tho tree-tops it is so removed from all interests of tho groundlings—so cut off from pleasures of tho multitude—that life can at’’bcst ho but nnexhilarating, and in tho aristocratic languor of its-every movement it tells us that it is dreadfully hared. A more practical disadvantage is that its neck is easily broken. Mr. Hagenback has told how ho woko up ono morning to find that throo of his giraffes had broken their necks during the night, presumably in some ungainly midnight gambol. THEIR BEAUTY. But. except under stress of necessity and for their meat, tho killing of giraffes is but a sorry business, ini spite of all that those who havo experienced it can say of tho exhilaration of- tho reckless ride, .through thorn-bushes andl over ant-bear holes, at tho heels--of - tho flying beasts. Every ono who has-soon thorn in their 'wild state speaks of a troop of giraffes as ono ot tho most beautiful filings in tho world, “l.havo never seen a more impressive sight,” -exclaims Sir Cornwallis Harris, and “ono of tho most wonderful thills in nature,” testifies Mr. Bryden, while Gordon -Cumming tells how “myisenses wore so absorbed by tho wondro!is»and beautiful sight before mo that-T rode along liko one entranced, . . with sensations different from anyth ini;* that I had experienced during a long.shooting career.” Even in captivity tho iudividiml-ani-mals aro singularly beautiful, both in their colouring and in tho gracious stateliness of their movements, apwell' as, not least, for their wonderfw-eyes, from which ono can well believe* that, as M. Thibaut assorts, they havo boon known to shed tears when separated from their companions. It seems to add something to its patient dignity that tho giraffe is, alono so far os is known among all mammals, voifcoless. It scorns to make no sound of pleasure, of warning, of foar, or of pain. It affords practically no “trophy” to tho hunter except its tail; and to kill so beautiful and so great a thing, rmpt is too often killed, either for tailing's sake or in order that its hide may bo made into whips, sooms almost -«no of the moat wanton cruelties of civilisation. Nor is tho waste of it much mended when it is added that tkio animal’s solid leg bones are used—tho bathos of it I—in 'manufacturing buttons. In spito of their beauty, too,’ mankind seldom sneaks of giraffes except as of things humorous and grotesque. And, while Edith or any other maiden may take it as a compliment to be told that sho has a svraoi-liko neck, no ono over yet felt flattered on being compared to a giraffe.