File:The game animals of Africa (1908) (14732385586).jpg

Identifier: gameanimalsofafr00lyde (find matches)
Title: The game animals of Africa
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915
Subjects: Game and game-birds Hunting Big game animals
Publisher: London, R. Ward, limited
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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anting. The presence of posterior horns,coupled with the abortion of the front horn, is thus a distinctive featureof the present form, which might be called the four-horned giraffe. Lastly we have the southern race (G. c. capensis)^ from thecountry immediately north of the Orange river and some of theadjacent districts, of which the typical southern form is probablyextinct. This is a large dark-coloured giraffe, without posterior horns,displaying the blotched type of colour-pattern in the most pronouncedform, with the two sexes alike as regards the pattern of the spots, butthe old bulls darker than the cows. As regards the spots, the largechocolate-brown, or almost black, body-spots of the old bulls are moreor less quadrangular in shape, without showing any tendency to splitinto stars, and form conspicuous dark blotches upon a tawny ground.This type of colouring is thus the reverse of that of the Nubian race. GIRAFFE 367 The legs are fully spotted and dark-coloured throughout, and the
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 73.—Head and Neck of Transvaal Giraffe. frontal horn is rudimentary. It appears that the typical blotchedcoloration is displayed in its most characteristic form only in the more 368 GIRAFFE GROUP southern representatives of this race, which is probably now almost orquite exterminated. In the head and neck of a young and light-coloured bull from the North Kalahari, presented to the British Museumby Mr. Bryden, there is a decided tendency towards the netted typeof the Nubian race. A coloured figure of the true southern giraffe is given in plate xi.of Sir Cornwallis Harriss Portraits of tJie Game and Wild Animalsof South Africa, which may be considered a fairly correct, althoughperhaps somewhat highly coloured, portrait of the animal. Accordingto this, the ground-colour of the skin is bright orange-fawn, upon whichare large widely separated blotches, with ill-defined borders and thecentres markedly darker (deep chestnut) than the margins. On theupper part of the limbs the spots te

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