The Springdale news., 1889-10-04
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES.
Newly \ Acquired Facts Concerning Three Queerly- Made Animals.
 THE GIRAFFE
THE GIRAFFE

oueerly-Made Animals.
 TIE GIRAFFE.
 Nature made curious mistake in regard to the giraffe, She gave him such an extra length of neck that he is obliged to feed on the foliage of trees and let the rich grass under his feet strictly alone. She made him pretty, but awkward. She gave him beauti- ful limbs, but he runs with a wobble. He is practically defenseless and yet he is boosted up in the air where every thing can see him. There is some off, set, however, in the fact that the giraffe is of affectionate disposition His confidence is easily secured, and when once he puts his trust in you you can feed him cayenne pepper in piece Of apple and he will lay it on to some one else. The giraffe lives to the age of thirty-fve, if not sooner disposed of by accident. and he is then resigned to have his skin made into a rug for somebody's pug dog to sleep on. There is legend among the natives of Africa that the giraffe never sleeps. but that he spends his hours of darkness in weeping over the sins of the world. This is prob- ably the reason why the world isn't far more wicked than it is, and every body should be willing to pay an extra ten cents to see the giraffe with the circus.
 THE RHINOCEROS.
 The idea in bringing out the rhinoc, eros was to get something that no other country could beat for uglines s. While there are several brands of tn e beast, all put up in different packages with different labels, all amount to the same thing when you cut the string and unite the bundle. While the giraffe is two stories high with hip roof the rhinoceros stopped short at the basement and has never been fin ished up. To reward him for not being quite as homely as the hippopotamus, he was given hide so thick that a graEe-shot would only tickle him. and as an offset for not haY- ing mouth as large as an alligator he was given q temper as hot as wild cats and hornets boiled down together. The rhinoeeros was not expected to cut any thing of dash in this world. He was given to understand that if he took care of h is appetite and made it unpleasant for l l., 1,i mile of him. nothing further would be expected of him. So far as man has been able to discover, the beast never cracks q smile nor makes a joke, and nothing ever steps on his eoat-tails and gets away alive. The legend in regard to him is that he puts ill the hours be- tween daylight and sunrise grieving because he wasn't made a turtle-doye, but legends are not to be depended on.
 THE SEA HORSE
 The sea horse Is so called because he hasn't the least resemblance to a horse. and because he is never seen in the sea. The name given him by some smart Alec who felt aWfully funny that day. Some years later another smart Alec changed the name 10 sea COW, but that doesn't hit any closer. They are found in rivers and lagoons instead of the sea, and they resemble COWS as much as stuffed woodchuck does a live lion. The principal occupation of a sea-horse- COW. as we are obliged to call him, is promenading around on the muddy bottoms of muddy rivers, satisfying his hunger on the best the land affords and making the neighbor- hood highly uncomfortable for African gentlemen out fishing in their canoes. He has no ambition beyond that, and if undisturbed would let the world wag along and mind his own business. Naturalists claim that he is very docile and affcctionate when in captivity, and the day may come when he will re- place the poodle dog as pet. His span of life is supposed to be sixty years, but that doubtless depends a great deal on the care he takes of him. self. If the newly-discovered elixir of life works as is hoped for, the sea horse-cow's days may be extended over a hundred years. Detroit Free Press.
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