Zarafa

The giraffe given to Charles X of France by Muhammad Ali of Egypt (?1825-12 January 1845) was a female giraffe in a menagerie in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris for 18 years in the early 1800s. She was one of the first three giraffes to be seen in Europe for over three centuries, since the Medici giraffe was sent to Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence in 1486. She was a present to Charles X of France from the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt, Mehmet Ali Pasha... more

The giraffe given to Charles X of France by Muhammad Ali of Egypt (?1825-12 January 1845) was a female giraffe in a menagerie in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris for 18 years in the early 1800s. She was one of the first three giraffes to be seen in Europe for over three centuries, since the Medici giraffe was sent to Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence in 1486. She was a present to Charles X of France from the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt, Mehmet Ali Pasha. In 1824, the army of the Sultan of Turkey was engaged in fighting in the Greek War of Independence, and Sultan Mahmud II called upon the Pasha to send troops in support. The Greeks were supported by France. Bernardino Drovetti, the French consul-general in Egypt, persuaded the Pasha that an extraordinary present would encourage the King of France to stop supporting the Greeks. She was captured as a young animal by Arab hunters near Sennar in Sudan and taken to Khartoum on the back of a camel, from where she was transported by boat down the... less