read info about a giraffe and you have to think, this animal couldn't evolve, Its body structure is so complex.
2007-11-06 08:30:04 · 10 answers · asked by Gizmo3 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
The theory of evolution is just a theory - its exactly your train of thought that leaves massive gaps in the theory! Darwin might have had some idea, but no one has come up with anything else since he popped his clogs. I reckon God did it - with a sense of humour.
2007-11-06 09:00:06 · answer #1 · answered by AUNTY EM 6 · 1⤊ 3⤋
It only couldn't evolve if you give up.
The evolution of the giraffe, with the long neck, is an example of sexual selection. Many people (mistakenly) believe that the long neck is an evolutionary trait that comes from eating leaves high up on trees - that's bunk. Giraffes eat grass, too - so maybe they should have shorter legs and a permanent hump?
In fact, the neck is long because of how the males compete for mates - they swing their heads around into one another like huge morningstars. The longer the neck, the more force you can put behind your swing, and the more likely you are to win. Longer-necked males therefore mate more frequently and have more young. And so the trait propagates throughout the population, and is only balanced by the need to have structural stability to support the head.
2007-11-06 08:35:07 · answer #2 · answered by Brian L 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Oh so giraffes couldn't evolve??
News flash....they DID. Giraffes exist.
Their body structure isn't that far off....so they have a long neck...they still have seven vertebrae in their neck, like other mammals. Making certain body structures longer really isn't that complex...Of course other adaptations had to evolve to allow that long neck...the circulatory system for one so that blood doesn't rush to the giraffes' head when it drinks or it would pass out.
Read science or animal books and you will see how evolution happens.
Nothing can make perfection quite like nature can. :)
2007-11-06 11:07:32 · answer #3 · answered by Akatsuki 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Evolution happens over a long period of time. Its ancestor slowly got longer and longer necks until the current giraffe. In each generation, the individuals with slightly higher necks had a slightly higher change of reaching food. This took a long time, but eventually evolved to this. Also, as this happened, the special features of giraffe neck veins slowly developed into their current form.
2007-11-06 08:59:34 · answer #4 · answered by Take it from Toby 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The long neck gave those giraffes a survival advantage - which is how evolution picks out the best and lets the others die off.
Whether you believe the older feeding theory or the newer fighting theory clearly giraffes with long necks had an advantage which they passed on to their children.
2007-11-06 08:51:11 · answer #5 · answered by Rich Z 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Longer necks get the food up high on the tree.
The giraffe is, I believe, a simple example of why the theory of evolution is likely to be right.
Body complexity means very little to evolution. FILLING A NEED, and IMPROVEMENT ON REPRODUCTIVE CAPACITY are the two key elements. If those two get accomplished through simplicity, then so be it. Likewise, if they get accomplished through extremely complex structures, then... so be it... Evolution doesn't care about anything but SEX and EATING. (kind of like most of the rest of us)
2007-11-06 08:39:29 · answer #6 · answered by Andrew Wiggin 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
very true, Giraffes neck and body are made specifically for that animal,it eats grass, so why the need for a long neck?
2007-11-07 05:28:41 · answer #7 · answered by Lexis m 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They were able to reach for the food that other animals could not. Maybe there was a time when all the short plants were dying and the only edible leaves were the ones high in the trees.
2007-11-06 08:48:03 · answer #8 · answered by Signilda 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
it evolved when a slinky fell onto the neck of a deformed donkey. voila giraffe.
2007-11-06 08:38:46 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 5⤋
i dont know, but your question made me laugh so hard i fell out of my chair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2007-11-06 08:34:22 · answer #10 · answered by $keeter 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋