GIRAFFE, ji-rar, or CAMELOPARD, the tallest of mammals (Giraffe; camelopardahs), the type of a family of ruminants (Geraffida), intermediate between deer and antelopes, and also containing the okapi (q.v.). It is a native of Africa south of the Sahara, but is now to be found only in the interior, remote from civili zation and where there are brushy plains or open forest, and is fast decreasing. It occurs gen erally in small herds of from 5 to 40. It feeds on the leaves and small branches of trees, es pecially. mimosas, which in districts where the animals abound are kept cropped to a convenient height for browsing. Its general aspect is re markable from the height of the foreparts and great elongation of the neck, the head being sometimes 18 feet from the ground. The num ber of vertebra in the neck, however (seven), is not greater than in other quadrupeds, and it has no extraordinary flexibility, although its form and movements are very graceful. The length, therefore, is due to the elongation of each cervi cal vertebra. The body is short, and the back slopes from the shoulder to the tail ; yet the greater height of the foreparts is not entirely owing to the greater length of the fore-legs, but to the neural processes of the vertebra, which form a basis for the support of the neck and head. The head is long, capable of a wide range of movements, and the upper lip is pro jecting and somewhat prehensile, while the tongue is remarkably capable of elongation, and can be thrust far out of the mouth, and em ployed to grasp and take up even very small objects; it is said that its tip can be so tapered as to enter the ring of a very small key. The usefulness of such .an organ for drawing in leaves and branchlets to the mouth is obvious. The giraffe adroitly picks off the leaves of acacias and other thorny plants, without taking the thorns into its mouth. The dentition of the giraffe agrees with that of antelopes, sheep and i oxen; the upper jaw of the male is destitute of the canine teeth which are present in the male of many deer.
Anatomically the most remarkable feature of the giraffe is the presence in both sexes of two protuberances between the ears, generally de scribed as horns, but very different from the horns of other animals, and each consisting of a permanent bone united to the skull by an ob vious suture, covered with skin and hair, and terminated by long hard bristles. These long
outgrowths correspond to the bony core of the antelope's horn or to the pedicel of the antler in the deer. There is also a projection on the forehead, which, in the giraffes of South Africa, is so elongated as to indicate a separate species (G. australis) in the opinion of recent natural ists. If this view be accepted then the name camelopardalis applies properly only to the giraffes now to be found only in Somaliland. Moreover, Sir H. Johnston has reported that there exists in Uganda a very brilliantly col ored form which has five horny protuberances, instead of three, upon the head; and when bet ter known may prove to be in a new genus as well as of a novel species. The hair of the giraffe is short and smooth, with a short mane on the neck, and a tuft on the end of the tail. The color is reddish-brown in irregular areas sharply marked off by white borders, like the mortar between brick-work; but there is much variation in tint as well as pattern. A few ex tinct forms are found fossil in the Pliocene beds of China, India and Greece, of which Samotherium and Hallidotherium are promi nent examples; they had a shorter neck and legs and more bovine appearance than their successors, and the males alone have horns.
The giraffe is an inoffensive animal, and gen erally seeks safety, if possible, in flight, although it is capable of making a stout resistance, and is said to beat off the lion by kicking with its hind-legs, discharging a storm of kicks with extrordinary rapidity. It is not easily over taken even by a fleet horse, and has greatly the advantage of a horse on uneven and broken ground. Its pace is described as an amble, the legs of the same side moving at the same time. The giraffe was known to the ancients, and was exhibited in Roman spectacles. Repre sentations of it appear among Egyptian antiqui ties. It has been supposed to be the zemer of the Jews, translated chamois in the English Bible (Dent. xiv, 5).
It is one of the costliest and most uncommon animals in menageries, although in former years they were kept and bred in Europe. The flesh is excellent meat, and the hide is thick and makes good leather. Consult Beddard, (Mam malia' (1902), Lyddeker, Animals of Africa' (1908) and the writings of naturalists and sportsmen in Africa, especially Johnston, Baker, Bryden, Gordon, Cumming, Harris, Holub and Selous.