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In 1826, the Ottoman governor of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, sent a giraffe from the Sudan as a gift to the French king, Charles X. Later called “Zarafa,” she caused a sensation as the first live giraffe to set foot in France, and inspired scientists, artists, and members of the public, who visited her in the Menagerie of Paris. Zarafa died in 1845, but popular interest persisted. Her stuffed skin, which entered a museum in Verdun, became a talisman for French soldiers in World War I, while her mounted skeleton drew visitors at a museum in Caen until it was destroyed in a World War II bombing. Meanwhile, her species dwindled and went extinct in the Sudan itself. In this talk, I will consider how Zarafa’s life and afterlife can illuminate myriad histories, of contacts between Egypt, the Sudan, and France; science and environmental change; art and material culture; and human relationships with other animals.
