tongue had long attracted
notice, but it was reserved for Professor Owen to point out their true
character. Sir Everard Home, who had examined the giraffe which died at
Windsor, described the wonderful changes of size and length, which occur
in the tongue, as resulting from vascular action, the blood-vessels
being at one time loaded, at another empty; but the Hunterian professor
proved that the movements of the tongue are entirely due to muscular
action, and adds the following interesting remarks: "I have observed all
the movements of the tongue, which have been described by previous
authors. The giraffe being endowed with an organ so exquisitely formed
for prehension, instinctively puts it to use in a variety of ways, while
in a state of confinement. The female in the Garden of Plants, at Paris,
for example, may frequently be observed to amuse itself by stretching
upward its neck and head, and, with the slender tongue, pulling out the
straws which are plaited into the partition separating it from the
contiguous compartment of its inclosure. In our own menagerie, many a
fair lady has been robbed of the artificial flower which adorned her
bonnet, by the nimble, filching tongue of the object of her admiration.
The giraffe seems, indeed, to be guided more by the eye than the nose in
the selection of objects of food; and, if we may judge of the apparent
satisfaction with which the mock leaves and flowers so obtained are
masticated, the tongue would seem by no means to enjoy the sensitive in
the same degree as the motive powers. The giraffes have a habit, in
captivity at least, of plucking the hairs out of each other's manes and
tails, and swallowing them. I know not whether we must attribute to a
fondness for epidermic productions, or to the tempting green color of
the parts, the following ludicrous circumstance, which happened to a
fine peacock, which was kept in the giraffes' paddock. As the bird was
spreading his tail in the sunbeams, and curvetting in presence of his
mate, one of the giraffes stooped his long neck, and entwining his
flexible tongue round a bunch of the gaudy plumes, suddenly lifted the
bird into the air, then giving him a shake, disengaged five or six of
the tail feathers, when down fluttered the astonished peacock, and
scuffled off, with the remains of his train dragging humbly after
him."[11]

The natural food of the giraffe is the leaves, tender shoots, and
blossoms of a singular species of mimosa,