_THE GIRAFFE AND OKAPI._
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THE GIRAFFE.
BY H. A. BRYDEN.
Giraffes, which are found only in the continent of Africa, are the tallest
of all living creatures. They belong to the Ruminants, or Cud-chewers, and
naturalists are inclined to place them somewhere between the Deer Family
and the Hollow-horned Ruminants, in which latter are to be found oxen,
buffaloes, and antelopes. Rütimeyer, the Swiss naturalist, once defined
them as "a most fantastic form of deer," which is, perhaps, as good a
definition of them as one is likely to hit upon. Fossil discoveries show
that, in ages long remote, great giraffe-like creatures, some of them
bearing horns or antlers, roamed widely in the south of Europe, Persia,
India and even China.
[Illustration: _Photo by Miss E. J. Beck._
SOUTHERN GIRAFFE LYING DOWN.
This giraffe was a present to Queen Victoria; it only lived fourteen days
after its arrival.]
Of living giraffes, two species have thus far been identified,--the
SOUTHERN or CAPE GIRAFFE, with a range extending from Bechuanaland and the
Transvaal to British East Africa and the Soudan; and the NUBIAN or NORTHERN
GIRAFFE, found chiefly in East Africa, Somaliland, and the country between
Abyssinia and the Nile. The southern giraffe, which, from its recent
appearance in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, is now the more
familiar of the two animals, has a creamy or yellowish-white ground-colour,
marked by irregular blotches, which vary in colour, in animals of different
ages, from lemon-fawn to orange-tawny, and in older specimens to a very
dark chestnut. Old bulls and occasionally old cows grow extremely dark with
age, and at a distance appear almost black upon the back and shoulders. The
northern giraffe is widely different, the coloration being usually a rich
red-chestnut, darker with age, separated by a fine network of white lines,
symmetrically arranged in polygonal patterns. At no great distance this
giraffe, instead of having the blotchy or dappled appearance of the
southern giraffe, looks almost entirely chestnut in colour. Again, the
southern giraffe has only two horns, while the northern species usually
develops a third, growing from the centre of the forehead. These horns,
which are covered with hair in both species, and tufted black at the tips,
are, in the youthful days of the animal, actually separable from the bones
of the head. As the animal arrives at maturity, they become firmly united
to the skull. A third race or sub-species of giraffe has been identified in
Western Africa, mainly from the skull and cannon-bones of a specimen shot
in 1897 at the junction of the Binue and Niger Rivers; but very little is
known about this form. Other varieties or sub-species may yet be discovered
in other parts of the Dark Continent. It is lacking in the giraffe's long
neck.
The towering height of the giraffe is entirely attributable to the great
length of the neck and limbs. A full-grown bull giraffe will certainly
measure occasionally as much as 19 feet in height. I measured very
carefully a specimen shot by my hunting friend, Mr. W. Dove, in the forests
of the North Kalahari, South Africa, which taped 18 feet 11½ inches. A fine
cow, shot by myself in the same country, measured 16 feet 10 inches, and
there is no reason to suppose that cow giraffes do not easily reach fully
17 feet in height. These animals feed almost entirely upon the leaves of
acacia-trees, the foliage of the _kameel-doorn_, or giraffe-acacia,
affording their most favourite food-supply. It is a most beautiful
spectacle to see, as I have seen, a large troop of these dappled
giants--creatures which, somehow, viewed in the wild state, always seem to
me to belong to another epoch--quietly browsing, with upstretched necks and
delicate heads, among the branches of the spreading _mokala_, as the
Bechuanas call this tree.
The giraffe's upper lip is long and prehensile, and covered, no doubt as a
protection against thorns, with a thick velvety coating of short hair. The
tongue is long--some 18 inches in length--and is employed for plucking down
the tender leafage on which the giraffe feeds. The eyes of the giraffe are
most beautiful--dark brown, shaded by long lashes, and peculiarly tender
and melting in expression. Singularly enough, the animal is absolutely
mute, and never, even in its death-agonies, utters a sound. The hoofs are
large, elongate, nearly 12 inches in length in the case of old bulls, and
look like those of gigantic cattle. There are no false hoofs, and the
fetlock is round and smooth. The skin of a full-grown giraffe is
extraordinarily tough and solid, attaining in the case of old males as much
as an inch in thickness. From these animals most of the _sjamboks_, or
colonial whips, in use all over South Africa, are now made; and it is a
miserable fact to record that giraffes are now slaughtered by native and
Boer hunters almost solely for the value of the hide, which is worth from
£3 to £5 in the case of full-grown beasts. So perishes the giraffe from
South Africa.
[Illustration: _Photo by W. P. Dando_] [_Regent's Park._
MALE SOUTHERN GIRAFFE.
The coloration of these animals harmonises exactly with the dark and light
splashes of their surroundings.]
Giraffes live mainly in forest country, or country partially open and
partially clothed with thin, park-like stretches of low acacia-trees. When
pursued, they betake themselves to the densest parts of the bush and
timber, and, their thick hides being absolutely impervious to the frightful
thorns with which all African jungle and forest seem to be provided, burst
through every bushy obstacle with the greatest ease. They steer also in the
most wonderful manner through the timber, ducking branches and evading
tree-boles with marvellous facility. I shall never forget seeing my hunting
comrade after his first chase in thick bush. We had ridden, as we always
rode hunting, in our flannel shirts, coatless. Attracted by his firing, I
came up with my friend, who was sitting on the body of a huge old bull
giraffe, which had fallen dead in a grassy clearing. He was looking
ruefully at the remains of his shirt, which hung about him, literally in
rags and ribbons. Blood was streaming from innumerable wounds upon his
chest, neck, and arms. Always after that we donned cord coats, when running
giraffes in bush and forest country.
[Illustration: _Photo by A. S. Rutland & Sons._
A GIRAFFE GRAZING.
Grazing is evidently not the natural mode of feeding of these animals,
which are essentially browsers.]
In regions where they have been little disturbed, giraffes no doubt wander
across open plains, and are to be seen well away from the denser forests,
feeding among scattered islets of acacias, easily exposed to the human eye.
But in South Africa they are now seldom to be met with out of the forest
region. Once, and once only, have I seen giraffes in the open. This was on
the outskirts of the forest, and the great creatures had been tempted to a
little knoll of _mokala_ trees, rising like an islet from the sea of grass.
One's first impression of these creatures in the wild state is very
deceptive. I well remember first setting eyes upon a troop of five or six.
As they swung away from the leafage on which they were feeding, my friend
and I cantered easily, thinking that we should soon come up with them. We
were completely deceived. With those immense legs of theirs, the great
creatures, going with their easy, shuffling, but marvellously swift walk,
were simply striding away from us. Discovering our mistake, we rode hard,
and the giraffes then broke into their strange, rocking gallop, and a
headlong, desperate chase began, to be terminated by the death of a fine
cow. Like the camel, the giraffe progresses by moving the two legs upon
either side of the body simultaneously. At this strange, rocking gallop
these animals move at a great pace, and a good Cape horse is needed to run
into them. By far the best plan, if you are bent on shooting these animals,
is to press your pony, so soon as you sight giraffes, to the top of its
speed, and force the game beyond its natural paces in one desperate gallop
of a couple of miles or so. If well mounted, your nag will take you right
up to the heels of the tall beasts, and, firing from the saddle, you can,
without great difficulty, bring down the game. The giraffe, unlike the
antelopes of Africa, is not very tenacious of life, and a bullet planted
near the root of the tail will, penetrating the short body, pierce a vital
spot, and bring down the tall beast crashing to earth. Having tasted the
delights of fox-hunting and many other forms of sport, I can testify that
the run up to a good troop of giraffes is one of the most thrilling and
exciting of all human experiences. There is nothing else quite like it in
the wide range of sporting emotions. Having enjoyed this thrilling pleasure
a few times, however, the humane hunter will stay his hand, and shoot only
when meat, or perhaps an exceptionally fine specimen, is absolutely needed.
Giraffes are, of course, utterly defenceless, and, save for their shy, wary
habits and remote, waterless habitat, have nothing to shield them from the
mounted hunter.
Giraffe-hunting on foot is a very different matter. In that case the
giraffe has the better of it, and the stalker is placed at great
disadvantage. These animals are in many places found in extremely waterless
country, where even the mounted hunter has much trouble to reach them. Like
elands and gemsbok and other desert-loving antelopes, they can exist for
long periods--months together--without drinking. In the northern portions
of the Kalahari Desert, where I have carefully observed their habits, as
well as hunted them, it is an undoubted fact that giraffes never touch
water during the whole of the dry winter season--for several months on end.
Gemsbok and elands in the same waterless tract of country are complete
abstainers for the same period. The flesh of a giraffe cow, if fairly
young, is excellent, tender, and well tasted, with a flavour of game-like
veal. The marrow-bones also, roasted over a gentle wood fire, and sawn in
half, afford delicious eating, quite one of the supreme delicacies of the
African wilderness.
[Illustration: _Photo by Charles Knight_] [_Aldershot._
A GIRAFFE BROWSING.
Here the posture is seen to be thoroughly natural.]
THE OKAPI.
BY SIR HARRY JOHNSTON, K.C.B., F.Z.S.
Readers of "The Living Animals of the World" are in all probability readers
of newspapers, and it would therefore be affectation on the part of the
writer of these lines to assume that they have not heard more or less of
the discovery which he was privileged to make of an entirely new ruminant
of large size, dwelling in the forests bordering the Semliki River, in
Central Africa, on the borderland between the Uganda Protectorate and the
Congo Free State. The history of this discovery, stated briefly, is as
follows:--In 1882-83 I was the guest of Mr. (now Sir Henry) Stanley on the
River Congo at Stanley Pool. I was visiting the Congo at that time as an
explorer in a very small way and a naturalist. Mr. Stanley, conversing with
me on the possibility of African discoveries, told me then that he believed
that all that was most wonderful in tropical Africa would be found to be
concentrated in the region of the Blue Mountains, south of the Albert
Nyanza. This feeling on Stanley's part doubtless was one of the reasons
which urged him to go to the relief of Emin Pasha. His journey through the
great Congo Forest towards the Blue Mountains of the Albert Nyanza resulted
in his discovery of the greatest snow mountain-range of Africa, Ruwenzori,
and the river Semliki, which is the Upper Albertine Nile; of Lake Albert
Edward, from which it flows round the flanks of Ruwenzori; and, amongst
other things, in more detailed information regarding the dwarf races of the
Northern Congo forests than we had yet received. Stanley also was the first
to draw the attention of the world to the dense and awful character of
these mighty woods, and to hint at the mysteries and wonders in natural
history which they possibly contained. The stress and trouble of his
expedition prevented him and his companions from bestowing much attention
on natural history; moreover, in these forests it is extremely difficult
for persons who are passing hurriedly through the tangle to come into
actual contact with the beasts that inhabit them. Sir Henry Stanley,
discussing this subject with me since my return from Uganda, tells me that
he believes that the okapi is only one amongst several strange new beasts
which will be eventually discovered in these remarkable forests. He
describes having seen a creature like a gigantic pig 6 feet in length, and
certain antelopes unlike any known type. In regard to the okapi, the only
hint of its existence which he obtained was the announcement that the
dwarfs knew of the existence of a creature in their forests which greatly
resembled an ass in appearance, and which they caught in pits. This tiny
sentence in an appendix to his book "In Darkest Africa" attracted my
attention some time before I went to Uganda. It seemed to me so
extraordinary that any creature like a horse should inhabit a dense forest,
that I determined, if ever fate should lead me in that direction, I would
make enquiries.
[Illustration: _Photo by York & Son_] [_Notting Hill._
MALE AND FEMALE GIRAFFES.
Giraffes are said to be very affectionate animals.]
Soon after reaching the Uganda Protectorate at the end of 1899, I came in
contact with a large party of dwarfs who had been kidnapped by a too
enterprising German impresario, who had decided to show them at the Paris
Exhibition. As the Belgians objected to this procedure, I released the
dwarfs from their kidnapper, and retained them with me for some months in
Uganda, until I was able personally to escort them back to their homes in
the Congo Forest. I had other reasons connected with my Government business
for visiting the north-western part of the Congo Free State. As soon as I
could make the dwarfs understand me by means of an interpreter, I
questioned them regarding the existence of this horse-like creature in
their forests. They at once understood what I meant; and pointing to a
zebra-skin and a live mule, they informed me that the creature in question,
which was called OKAPI, was like a mule with zebra stripes on it. When I
reached Fort Mbeni, in the Congo Free State, on the west bank of the river
Semliki, I put questions to the Belgian officers stationed there. They all
knew the okapi, at any rate, when dead. As a living animal they had none of
them seen it, but their native soldiers were in the habit of hunting the
animal in the forest and killing it with spears, and then bringing in the
skin and the flesh for use in the fort. One of the officers declared there
was even then a freshly obtained skin lying about in the precincts of the
fort. On searching for this, however, it was discovered that the greater
part of it had been thrown away, only the gaudier portions having been cut
into strips by the soldiers to be made into bandoliers. These strips,
together with similar ones obtained from natives in the forest, I sent to
England, to Dr. P. L. Sclater, for his consideration. Furnished by the
Belgian officers with guides, and taking with me all the dwarfs whom I had
brought from Uganda, I entered the forest, and remained there for some days
searching for the okapi. All this time I was convinced that I was on the
track of a species of horse; and therefore when the natives showed the
tracks of a cloven-footed animal like the eland, and told us these were the
foot-prints of the okapi, I disbelieved them, and imagined that we were
merely following a forest-eland. We never saw the okapi; and as the life in
the forest made the whole expedition extremely ill, and my time was
required for official work elsewhere, I was obliged to give up this search.
Meantime, I had elicited from the natives, whom I questioned closely, that
the okapi was a creature without horns or any means of offence, the size of
a large antelope or mule, which inhabited only the densest parts of the
forest, and generally went about in pairs, male and female. It lived
chiefly on leaves. The Belgian officers, seeing that I was disappointed at
not obtaining a complete skin, offered to use their best efforts to obtain
one for me, and send it on to Uganda after my departure.
[Illustration: _Copyright to "The Sphere."_
THE OKAPI OF THE CONGO FOREST.
Previous to the discovery of this ruminant the giraffe stood alone among
the mammals of the world. It has now at least one living relative.]
This promise was eventually redeemed by Mr. Karl Eriksson, a Swedish
officer in the Belgian service. Mr. Eriksson sent me a complete skin and
two skulls. The skin and the bigger of the two skulls belonged to a young
male. This is the skin which is now set up in the Natural History Museum at
South Kensington, and of which a photographic illustration accompanies this
notice. Upon receiving this skin, I saw at once what the okapi was--namely,
a close relation of the giraffe. From the very small development of the
horn-bosses, I believed that it was nearer allied to the helladotherium
than to the living giraffe. In forwarding the specimens to Professor Ray
Lankester, I therefore proposed that it should be called _Helladotherium
tigrinum_. Professor Ray Lankester, having examined the specimens with a
greater knowledge than I possessed, decided that the animal was rather more
closely allied to the giraffe than to the helladotherium, but that it
possessed sufficient peculiarities of its own to oblige him to create for
its reception a new genus, which he proposed to call _Ocapia_.
[Illustration: _Copyright photograph by Hutchinson & Co._
HEAD OF OKAPI.
The enormous size of the ears is very noteworthy.]
Meantime, the original strips of the skin (which apparently belonged to an
older and larger animal than the specimen mounted at South Kensington) had
been pronounced by experts to whom they were submitted to be the skin of an
undiscovered species of horse, and this supposed new horse had been
tentatively named by Dr. P. L. Sclater _Equus johnstoni_. The full
discovery obliged Professor Ray Lankester to set aside any idea of the
okapi being allied to the horse, but he was good enough to attach Mr.
Sclater's specific name of _johnstoni_ to his newly founded genus of
_Ocapia_.
Up to the time of writing this is all that is known of this extraordinary
survival in the Congo Forest of the only living relation of the giraffe. We
know by palæontological discoveries in Europe and in Asia that there
existed a large family of ruminants which in their development and features
were neither of the Ox group nor of the Deer, but in some respects occupied
a position midway between these two branches of cloven-hoofed, horned,
ruminating Ungulates. To this family the Giraffe, the Okapi, the
Helladotherium, the Samotherium, the Sivatherium, and the Bramatherium
belong. In all probability bony projections arose from the skulls of these
creatures similar in some measure to the prominent bony cores of the horns
of oxen. From the top, however, of these bony cores there would seem to
have arisen anciently antlers, possibly deciduous like those of the
prongbuck. In time creatures like the giraffe lost any need for such
weapons of offence, and ceased to grow antlers; but the bony cores from
which these antlers once proceeded still remained, and in the case of the
giraffe remain to the present day. In the helladotherium and in the okapi
these bony cores have dwindled to mere bumps.
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