why do girraffes have long necks?

Answer 1

bECAUSE THEY CAN'T STAND THE SMELL OF THEIR FEET!!!

Answer 2

they used to have short necks
and then one day, a mutated girraffe named William came along. William's genes were mutated because the DNA from its parents copied itself wrong, and gave him a long neck. He used to get laughed at, but not for long: his long neck could reach all the yummy leaves on the top of the tree. All the girraffes were jealous. William became a nice fat healthy girraffe, while they stayed skinny and weak.
Soon all the skinny weak girraffes died off because they could not find enough to eat. Also, William had children, all of which were mutated and had lovely long necks. A few other girraffe parents also had mutated children, just by accident. Eventually, there were many long-necked girraffes and only a few short-necked ones (because they were all dying). More and more mutated children were born, until there were only 1 or 2 short-necked girraffes in the world, and now THEY were considered wierd.
Finally, it was all long necks and that was it.
And that is how the long-necked girraffes replaced the short necked ones.

Answer 3

Because they have very long throats. Can you imagine a giraffe with a short neck and that real long throat, it sure would look weird.

Besides, long necks let them reach the tasty upper leaves on trees. That is a survival trait.

Answer 4

because they eat leaves from the trees then they need a long neck to do it

Answer 5

Though most evolutionists would cite that the competition for food favoured this adaptation, I am of the opinion that the ability to see a predator from a greater distance makes more sense.

So, take your pick, drought hardiness or predator avoidance.

Answer 6

So they can reach to eat from the tops of trees. All the little critters eat everything from the bottom.

Answer 7

To eat the tender leaves at the top of trees.

Answer 8

Giraffes

Giraffes are the tallest animals of all. They have long legs and long necks. There are 7 bones in their necks, the same as in ours. Males can grow to nearly five and a half metres tall, and females to nearly five metres tall.

They have five horns, called ossicones. These are fur-covered bumps on their skulls, unlike the horns of other animals.


Their skin is blotched in patterns of browns and yellows. Giraffes from different parts of Africa have different coat patterns.

Habitat
Giraffes are found in parts of Africa.They live on the savannah, which is the African grassland, or in light woodland. They do not live in thick forests where it is difficult to see predators such as lions approaching.

Giraffes live in groups called herds, although the members of a herd come and go. They don't stay together all the time. Of the nine groups of giraffe, only one, the Rothchild's, is endangered.

Feeding
Giraffes are browsers, or leaf eaters. Their long necks are so they can reach high into trees to eat the leaves.

They have long blue-black tongues that wrap around leaves and pick them from the branch. The long tongue helps them get leaves just out of reach.

Leaves give giraffes most of the moisture they need so that they do not often have to drink water.

Water holes are places where predators wait, and it is awkward for a giraffe to lower its head to drink. It has to spread its front legs wide to be able to get its head down. When its head is low, it is easier for predators to attack.

Movement
Giraffes' long legs mean they take big steps when they walk or run. One step can be about 5 metres long. They can run very fast, reaching speeds of about nearly 60 km per hour. Because of their long legs and short bodies, giraffes move differently from other four legged animals. They move the two legs on one side of the body forward, then the two legs on the other side. This keeps them from tripping over.

Because of their long necks, giraffes have big hearts to pump blood all the way up to the brain. There are special valves in the neck arteries so that when the giraffe bends its neck down, the blood doesn't rush to the head. When the head is raised again, the blood doesn't rush back down to the heart. Such rapid changes in blood pressure would make a giraffe faint.

Reproduction
Female giraffes give birth to a calf about 15 months after mating with a male. The mother gives birth standing up, so the calf drops to the ground. The calf is about 2 metres tall, and during its first week it grows about a centimetre a day. About an hour after birth, the calf can walk. It suckles milk from its mother, but starts nibbling at other food within days.

Self defence
Although giraffes are peaceful animals, they will defend themselves from lions, leopards and hyenas which attack the young, and sometimes adult giraffes. Giraffes give powerful kicks with all four legs, and a well placed kick can kill a lion. Sometimes male giraffes fight each other to decide which is stronger. They lean their hindquarters against each other for support and swing their necks, using their horns like hammers to hit each other.

People think giraffes are unable to make sounds, but they can. It's just that they do not often do it. They can make a moo, bleat or grunt. When alarmed, they snort.

Giraffes rarely sleep. In fact, they only go into a deep sleep for about 20 minutes each 24 hours, resting their heads on their hindquarters. The rest of the time, they doze now and then.

Threats to giraffe
Adult giraffes have few enemies, but young calves can be killed by leopards and hyenas. The most serious danger comes from humans who hunt giraffe for their skins. It is against the law to hunt giraffe but some people still do it.

Read more about giraffes here
http://whozoo.org/Intro98/natarale/natgiraffe2.htm

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-giraffe.html

Acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Giraffes (2006). [Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au

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Back to Animals

Updated April 2006

Answer 9

Because they need to eat to eat off the tops of the trees!!

Answer 10

So they can eat leaves off the trees

Answer 11

to eat the leaves off trees