Giraffes

Abstract

THE Zoological Society of London, as our readers know, have lost their last remaining Giraffe, and, for the first time since 1836, no example of this, one of the most wonderful of living Mammals, is to be seen in the Regent's Park Gardens. Nor does it seem likely that the loss can be easily restored. At the present time, owing to the Mahdists having closed the Soudan to trade, the Giraffe-market is very poorly supplied. Only one specimen of this animal, we are told, is for sale in Europe, and an exorbitant price is naturally asked for it. In South Africa the Giraffe is practically extinct, being only still met with in a few isolated localities nearly a thousand miles from Cape Town. In East Africa there are still Giraffes, and in places nearer the sea-board; but here, apparently, there are no means of catching them alive, as the natives do not understand how to do it. Here, however, it is that there appears to be most like lihood of obtaining a fresh supply. This will be an expensive business, but unless some steps are soon taken in the matter it seems that the younger generation of England will grow up without knowing what a living Giraffe is like. Their parents have been more fortunate. From the list given below, it will be seen that there have been 30 individuals of the Giraffe exhibited in the Zoological Society's Gardens since 1836, of which 17 have been born there, and 13 acquired by purchase. Of these 30, one was presented to the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland in 1844, five have been sold at prices varying from £450 to £150, and the remainder have died in the Gardens.