The Giraffe's Head a Sledge Hammer

1895

"Speaking of knockers," said Ed Coyne, who for the last ten years has been keeper of Daisy, the giant giraffe at the zoo, "do you know that the giraffe is the original and natural knocker? Look at that long, slender neck and the lumpy, bony head at the end of it. It reminds you of a sledge hammer, and that is what it is, in fact. When Daisy gets excited, she begins knocking — that is, she throws her head from side to side, using it like a hammer and dealing fearful blows with certain aim. If any other person besides myself should enter her stall, he would get a blow from her head that would knock him senseless, and then she would trample and kick him to pieces. The animal has but a small brain and cannot be reasoned with. The only way to get along with her is to be quiet and not get her excited. I can do about as I please with her. I enter the stall at all times, feed her and brush her off every day. She is a clean beast and gives but little trouble. A new keeper would have a hard time with her, as she knows me and will not ]et a stranger do anything for her." — Cincinnati Times-Star.

Hunting Giraffes

1900

No Danger Attends This Sport Except From the Animal's Heels

A good giraffe skin is worth from $10 to $20 in South Africa and much more in Europe. On their hunting trips 10 or 15 years ago it was a common matter for one hunter to kill 40 or 50 of these graceful animals in one day. The reason for this is that the giraffe is the most innocent of animals and easily hunted. They are absolutely defenseless, and there is hardly a case on record where a wounded giraffe turned upon the hunter. It is true, they bare great powers of speed, and they can dodge rapidly from tree to tree in the woods, but they offer such a fair mark that these tactics hardly ever save them.

Not until it is unusually frightened does the giraffe make its best speed, and when it is often too late, for the hunter is upon it. There is really no element of danger connected with this sport, and that makes it less exciting and attractive to a true sportsman. Under certain circumstances it is possible to be injured with the powerful legs of the giraffe, which are capable of kicking a blow that would kill a lion. The latter beast, for this reason, takes good care to attack the giraffe at unexpected moments.

It takes a good horse to run down a giraffe, and if the least advantage is permitted the wild creature the race is lost. Its peculiar gait is very ungraceful and deceptive, but it covers the ground with remarkable facility. In the open veldt the hunters have always the best of the race, but the giraffe, when surprised, makes instantly for the forest, where tough vines and intermingling branches make travel difficult for the hunter. The bushes and thorns tear and lacerate the skin of the horses, but the tough skin of the giraffe is barely scratched. The creature will tear a path through the toughest and thickest jungle and never suffer in the least.

This skin, or hide, of the animal is its chief article of value. No wonder that the bullets often fail to penetrate this skin, for it is from three-quarters to an inch thick and as tough as it is thick. This skin when cured and tanned makes excellent leather for certain purposes. The Boers make riding whips and sandals out of the skins they do not send to Europe. The bones of the giraffe have also a commercial value. The leg bones are solid instead of hollow, and in Europe they are in great demand for manufacturing buttons and other bone articles. The tendons of the giraffe are so strong that they will sustain an enormous dead weight, which gives to them pecuniary value. — Scientific American.

King of Beasts Sometimes King of Feasts

1896

The Things People Eat

The so-called king of beasts is usually associated with eating rather than being eaten, yet the lion is an article of food among the natives of the countries he inhabits, according to the Boston Traveller.

Several species of monkeys afford food for the natives of their habits. Travelers who have tried them declare them good.

Dogs are eaten by the California Indians in times of distress; they do not use them for this purpose in ordinary times, because they are too valuable to them for other purposes. Marco Polo says the Tartars used dogs for food, as did also the Mexicans the native dog or Alco.

The chase of the horse for the purposes of food was one of the chief occupations of man in Europe in the Neolithic Age. The Tartars eat horses as regular diet, and there are many butcher shops in Paris and Vienna where only horseflesh is sold.

The wild ass is eaten in Abyssinia; and the flesh of the suckling foal is esteemed by the Lasilio a great dainty. The milk of asses is also used in Abyssinia, as is the milk of mares by the Tartars.

The tallest and awkwardest of all creatures, the giraffe, when grown to maturity, is defended from all human teeth by its impenetrable toughness, but when young it is esteemed highly as food.

Hunting Giraffes – Out and About With The Kafirs One Day

1878

Hunting the Giraffe

A writer says: Giraffes, if not hard pressed, do not go at any great pace, so that before long we were within one hundred yards of them. Even in the ardor of the chase it struck me as a glorious sight to see these huge beasts dashing along in front, clattering over the stones or bursting a passage through opposing bushes, their long, graceful necks stretched forward, sometimes bent almost to the ground to avoid horizontal branches, and their bushy black tails twisted up. And how easily, and with how little exertion they seemed to get over the ground with that long, sweeping stride of theirs! Yet they were going at a great rate, for I felt that my old nag was doing his best, and I could not now lessen the distance between us by an inch.

I now saw that D. was about to make a push, and, as the horse he was riding was pretty fast, I knew that he would press them into a much quicker pace and leave me behind altogether; so, reining in at once, I jumped off, and, taking as steady aim as my arm, tired with flogging, would allow, fired at a large dark colored cow that looked to me in good condition. The bullet clapped loudly and I saw her stagger, but, recovering immediately, she went on, though slightly in the rear of the troop. At this moment my friend jumped off close behind them and gave another cow a shot.

I was now a long way behind, but my horse, though slow, possessed good staying powers; so that, by dint of keeping on a hard gallop and cutting angles when I could, I again crept up and gave my cow another shot, quickly followed by a third, which brought her to the ground with a crash. She was not dead, however, for as I approached she raised her lofty head once more and gazed reproachfully at me with her large soft, dark eyes. A pang of remorse went through me, and for an instant I wished the shots unfired that had laid low this beautiful and inoffensive creature.

But now the cries of my Kafirs and Masaras, following like famished wolves on the blood spoor, broke upon my ear; so, stifling the still small voice, I again raised my rifle and put an end to the miseries of my victim, whose head, pierced with a two-ounce ball, fell with a thud upon the ground, never to be raised again. Leaving some of the boys to cut up the meat I rode on with the rest to look for my friend, whom I found beside another prostrate giraffe, which he had killed a little further on. As the one I had shot was the fatter of the two officers, we left the Kafirs here and went back to mine.

It was now late; so, hastily dividing the boys into two parties, and bidding them sleep by the two giraffes respectively and cut them up and bring in the meat the following day, we started for the wagons with our gun carriers, who also carried a few of the fattest bits of meat. I may here remark that it is difficult to imagine anything more tasty and succulent than a steak of a young giraffe cow when in good condition, though it may be that hunger, the sauce with which I have always eaten it, had something to do with this opinion.