OCR Text |
Show 1905.] NIGERIAN AND KILIMANJARO GIRAFFES. 121 on tlie hind-quarters. On the hind-quarters the colour of the network is whity brown, but it darkens anteriorly. The Nigerian Giraffe is evidently nearly allied to the Nubian G. c. typica, from which it is readily distinguished by its generally paler colour (especially 011 the head) and its more numerous and differently arranged spots. The distinctness of this very pale-coloured Giraffe from all other representatives of the group is thus sufficiently apparent. Tlie contrast is most marked between this race (in which it may be presumed the two sexes are approximately the same colour) and the Baringo Giraffe (G-. c. rothschildi) or " Black Giraffe," in which the bulls are extremely dark. It would be interesting to know if the countries respectively inhabited by these two races present features which would generally accord with these two very distinct types of coloration. The female of the Kilimanjaro Giraffe (G. c. tippelskirchi, PI. X I.) requires little or nothing in tlie way of description, the Plate " speaking for itself." The specimen exhibits all the characteristic features of the typical tippelskirchi, as represented in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1904, i. p. 214, fig. 28. The spots 011 the body are of the characteristic jagged type, with the intervening network pattern very narrow. On the neck the spots are of considerable size, with wide intervals between; but they decrease in size and become more approximated on the body, and on the limbs they are very numerous. They cover nearly the whole of the inner surface of the thighs and both sides of the limbs as far down as the fetlocks. On the lower part of the legs the ground-colour is olive-fawn, but on the upper part of the fore legs and shoulders it passes into whity brown ; while on the last few inches of the neck and the whole of the sides of the face the ground-colour is white. The spots 011 the sides of the head are blackish brown, but they are elsewhere some shade of brown-fawn, darkest 011 the back and gradually paling on the legs. They nowhere show dark centres. There is 110 trace of a third horn, but this is probably merely a characteristic of the female. Mr. Buxton's specimen emphasises the marked distinctness of the Kilimanjaro Giraffe from all the other races of the species. This race is indeed the most beautiful of all the Giraffes, and is especially characterised by the fulness of its spotting. E X P L A N A T IO N OF TH E PLATES. P l a t e X I . Female Kilimanjaro Giraffe (Giraffa Camelopardalis tippelskirchi), from the specimen presented to the British Museum by Mr. T. F. Victor Buxton. P l a t e X I I . Fig. 1. Head and neck of male Nigerian Giraffe (Giraffa Camelopardalis peralta), from the specimen presented to the British Museum by Captain Gosling. 2. Occipital view of head of same. 3. J( „ Giraffa Camelopardalis cottoni. |