In 1825 the Viceroy of Egypt offered a giraffe to the French nation. The giraffe disembarked in Marseille in 1826 and then was walked to Paris where it arrived on 20 May 1827, arousing all the more curiosity because it was the first of its kind ever seen in France. The giraffe became a decorative motif and a literary subject of great popularity until its death in 1845.
‘I am telling you, my dearest, that once you have seen humans up close, you are extremely proud to be a giraffe […] An animal come from afar inspires a religious respect, shown by all kinds of offerings; something that seems to prove to their credit, at least, that they do not conceal the inferiority of their own miserable condition. They lay out parks for the gazelle ; the decorate the caves for the lion; for me they have planted trees with nourishing tops, which I can easily reach ; they have planted in front of my feet a lawn as fresh as those that grown around wells, and a sand s, round and polished like the sand my feet send flying in the desert. They maintain a temperature that is always the same in my house, and their fellow humans would be more than happy if they had for themselves the same respect and attentions ; but they don’t care about that.’
Charles Nodier, ‘Tablettes de la girafe du jardin des plantes, lettres à son amant du désert,’ Scènes de la vie publique et privée des animaux, 1842.
The giraffe in the Jardin des Plantes enjoyed a renown that can be measured by its importance in popular imagery, songs, and references in novels and articles in newspapers.