Pseudogiraffe : a chimera that looks like a giraffe but is not made of giraffe parts.
Giraffes are known by Europeans in the Middle Ages through their trade with North Africa. They have been described in Europe, like many animals at the time, by comparing them to known animals resulting in a distortion of the initial observations. They were described as between the camel and the leopard, and therefore called camelopard (464). This name has been kept in the binomial nomenclature, Giraffa camelopardalis.
The Questing Beast (468) is a cross-animal from Arthurian legend. It has the head and neck of a snake, the body of a leopard, the haunches of a lion and the feet of a hart (deer). Their association with giraffes seems to be a modern confusion.
The Qilin (376) is a mythical creature from China and other East Asian cultures. Earliest references are from the 5th century BC, and they became associated with giraffes in the Ming dynasty around the 15th century when they bought some from Africa. Descriptions vary depending on era and region, but cloven hooves and horn(s) are fairly consistent features and may have play a part in the connection between the Qilin and the giraffe.
The serpopard (236) is a mythical animal from ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian art, but there is no known name for the creature in any ancient text. This snake-necked leopard served as a decorative ornament. Although the shape may evoke a giraffe, some arguments suggest that they were distinct : the Egyptians represented animals in a very recognizable way, and there might be objects representing both giraffe and serpopards.
The last two are chimeras invented after suggestions. For the the first one, @james-silvercat asked for “Something that is not a giraffe, and maybe never was.” (415). Before doing this suggestion I never heard about all that stuff about giraffes and i learned it with your comments and reblogs ! For the second one (603) an anon wanted a fast animal and combined a leopard and a deer, reminding me all of this because the result was another pseudogiraffe.
Maybe a lot of you already knew all that stuff, but i just wanted to synthetize it in one post, and tell you how greatefull i am to have you all, you teach me lots of things and make with this serie something i couldn’t do alone. Nothing makes me happier than see you adding amazing stuff under my drawings and i’m having so much fun discussing about mythology, creature design and all with you ! Thanks for being here, keep being great <3
