Why giraffes have long necks

We sent you SMS, for complete subscription please reply. Follow Twitter Instagram Facebook. Why do giraffes have long necks? How long are giraffes' necks? How fast can giraffes run? Wonder What's Next? Better bring your sunglasses. Try It Out Are you ready to learn even more about giraffes? Be sure to check out the following activities with a friend or family member: A baby giraffe is between five and six feet tall when it is born — about the height of an average adult human!

The rest of us start out a wee bit smaller. A great way to track your height year after year is by keeping your own Growth Chart. So what are you waiting for? Start keeping track of your growth with your own growth chart! Click the link to see one crafty example of a cool growth chart. Have you ever seen two giraffes necking?

While they are usually gentle giants, giraffes are built to fight if they have to. Check out this interesting video of giraffes fighting with their powerful necks. Giraffes are one of the most beloved and instantly-recognizable animals in the world. If you're feeling crafty, try out this cute Giraffe Handprint Painting activity. You'll need just a few simple supplies and some help from a friend or family member.

Have fun! Did you get it? Test your knowledge. What are you wondering? Wonder Words vertebrae breed offspring habitat foliage nutrient scarce droughts predator survival warning peer view half whip clubs height skulls Take the Wonder Word Challenge.

Join the Discussion. Jacob Giraffe Feb 7, Feb 10, Jack Apr 29, Apr 29, Hi, Jack--we hope reading this Wonder helped you figure it out! Feb 13, Apr 19, Apr 9, Feb 23, Thanks, cj! We're happy to help you learn more about giraffes!

Bret Mar 7, Um, hi This topic needs a bit more information Mar 8, Bret Mar 9, Mar 12, Reegan Buck Jan 9, I loved this article because I really loved giraffes. I ask this question all the time and the question was answered in the article.

Jan 9, May 4, Trista Jan 9, Jan 10, Aren't they amazing, Trista? Have you ever seen one up close at the zoo before? Joyce Dec 6, Hey,I just wanted to say giraffes are my best friends I would live with them If I could I also love wonderopolis.

I love grafes so much i even had a brthday for them!!!!!!!!!!!! Dec 7, Joyce Dec 7, Dec 8, We're really glad to be your Wonder Friend, Joyce! Lucy Mar 21, Mar 22, Annabelle Mar 16, Mar 17, Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this Wonder, Annabelle! We value your opinion! Tharp Mar 15, My class really enjoyed this wonder and we learned lots of things! Elaine Mar 14, Mar 16, We're glad you liked this Wonder, Elaine!

AF Mar 13, Isn't the solution to Giraffes' long necks is the theory of evolution established by Darwin? But it is still a very helpful resource to learn! Nice job Wonderopolis! Mar 15, Giraffes look so amazing! Why they are not common although they don't have many predators? EJ Mar 13, They have long necks in order to reach food on the trees! Alazay Dorado Mar 13, Giraffes need their long necks to survive dont they?

Hi, Alazay! We hope this Wonder was helpful! Maurice Jun 6, Yes, I understand why giraffes have evolved with long necks- they help them to survive. But why have not more animals done the same? Or have they faced competition from giraffes, and become extinct? Hi, julian! Thanks for stopping by! Jun 8, Feb 14, I need a question from this article. Feb 16, Hi, Wonder Friend! Sofia Dec 12, I love Giraffes and when I went to the zoo I was amazed at how tall they were.

Wonderopolis Dec 12, It is amazing, Sofia! Breanna Mar 18, Wonderopolis Mar 18, We are so glad that you enjoyed this Wonder! Reyna's 4th Grade Homeroo Sep 18, How are the babies fed if they can't reach? Do they nuzzle each other to show affection? We see this on cards all of the time : And what is with their pattern?

It is similar to a leopard's and makes us think they are mimicking. We are really wondering this morning! Wonderopolis Sep 19, Stringer's 4th Grade Home We are still wondering about why giraffes fight other giraffes and how big a giraffe baby could be. We were also thinking about the similarities between a giraffe and some long necked dinosaurs Casimiro Apr 17, Well, they have long necks because they reach their food in the trees.

The giraffe only lives to be about 25 years old. The horns on the giraffe's head are not for defense. It uses it to push the branches out of the way so they can get more food. Wonderopolis Apr 17, Surprisingly, even with its long neck, the giraffe has the same number of vertebrae in its neck as humans and other mammals. Giraffe have seven cervical vertebrae, but each one can be about 25 cm long. Proudly wear your support for GCF! Proceeds from every sale help fund our conservation work in Africa.

We promise not to clutter your inbox. You'll receive our news updates once every 2 months. It's the best way to learn about our work and how you can get involved! Opt in to receive news and updates. Now we understand the complexity of the giraffe neck that is needed for it to survive—all the features to get the blood to the head without causing it to self destruct from incredibly high blood pressure when it puts it down to drink water.

We also understand how it can ingest the thorns from the trees it eats from without it destroying its throat and digestive system thick mucus that coats the thorn. We also understand that there need to be multiple simultaneous changes in the genome and the epigenome to allow these functional changes. A slow, gradual, neo-Darwinian process of one small mutation after another cannot account for these features.

It is inconceivable—far beyond the probability boundary—that all of this could take place using the neo-darwinian processes. So yes, to believe in evolution requires that we be indoctrinated out of our commonsense and more. I suggest you read up on them.

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The competing hypothesis is that giraffe necks evolved as a result of sexual selection. The competition between males, which they stated had longer and stronger necks, had driven the evolution of the giraffe neck, with female giraffes somehow carried along as sexual selection among males kept pushing the limits of neck length.

The hypothesis proposed by Simmons and Scheepers has been controversial from the start and has received a good deal of criticism. One paper, published by G. Mitchell, S. Skinner in the Journal of Zoology last year collected data suggesting that male giraffes do not energetically invest more in the growth in their necks than females do. In fact, not only did the necks of female giraffes continue growing through their lives, but they also added neck mass faster than males, and whatever differences there were between the necks of female and male giraffes appeared to be attributable to differences in overall body mass rather than the true sign of sexual selection.

If the differences between living giraffes were so minimal, it seemed unlikely that males had truly driven the evolutionary change through sexual selection. Simmons and co-author R. Altwegg have just responded to this study in a new Journal of Zoology paper, and in surveying the debate they state that neither the food competition nor the necks-for-sex hypothesis may be able to provide a comprehensive explanation for giraffe evolution.

Although they dispute the findings of Mitchell, van Sittert, and Skinner — arguing that the data collected by the other team actually represents a significant disparity between males and females triggered by sexual selection — they rightly note that most of what has been said about giraffe necks has depended upon the anatomy and behaviour of living animals. The arguments and experiments about the necks of living giraffes have more to do with the evolutionary pressures which are maintaining the form of the giraffe, but they may not be able to tell us very much about how long necks evolved in the first place.

As identified by Simmons and Altwegg, the long neck of the giraffe may have evolved in response to some ecological change but then was co-opted into other functions which caused further alterations under different evolutionary pressures.

The current function of a trait is not necessarily representative of why it evolved — an important caveat explicitly underlined by palaeobiologists such as Stephen J. Gould and Elisabeth Vrba several decades ago. If the necks of modern giraffes are at least partially attributable to a shift in function, then our ability to answer the question of giraffe evolution cannot be based upon living animals alone.

In order to test their preferred sexual selection idea Simmons and Altwegg suggest going back to the fossil record to see when giraffes evolved the blunt ossicones males use in their competitions and how this corresponds to neck length.