Why does evolution claim a giraffe's neck is long because it evolved that way to reach tree leaves? Does this mean that all other leaf-eating mammals with short necks (i.e. all of them except giraffes) are all in our imagination and don't actually exist?
by 
Krumple
ANSWERS: 13
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Evolution is making claims, now? Don't fall for it. I think giraffes are imaginary. I have never seen one and the whole neck idea seems ridiculous. And what's with those little knobbies on their heads?
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Nope, it just means that they evolved differently. A giraffe couldn't climb, so the ones with the longer necks were the ones surviving and making babies. Eventually, those necks just got hella long because in their species, longer necks mean easier food.
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Evolution doesn't claim that. In fact, evolution doesn't claim to know at all why a Giraffe has a long neck. Some proponents of it do, however, the theory does not. Some even think that it may have evolved from longer necks equaling greater desirability for mating, thus longer necked giraffes outbred the shorter necked giraffes.
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Namaste! i guess it's the evelutionary way to balance stuff. All the other animals eat from the bottom of tees. The bigger the animal, the higher up the tree it eats. So the giraffe is there to Trim the top. :)
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Who says that a long neck is the only way to eat leaves? The giraffe evolved the long neck because it worked for the species. It doesn't mean it's the only means of survival.
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You ( the original poster ) should give someone else a chance to deal with issues like this.
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It is just a suggestion, not a fact, that giraffes eveolved long necks to eat leaves. However, unlike most leaf eaters, which live in woods and jungles, giraffes live on the savannah, where there is either grass or tall trees. It is plausible, no more, that this is why giraffes evolved long necks and iother leaf eaters didn't. I can think of no other leaf eaters *on the savannah*. Grass eaters and meat eaters, but not leaf eaters.
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The shorter necked babies died more often and sooner than the long necked ones did. The monkeys and apes that had long palms and fingers climbed better and starved less than their tiny handed brethern. The creatures that glided and flew had less offspring killed by ground dwelling predators than flightless cousins. Minute variations, over time, some encouraging survival and some inhibiting. There's no single solution, evolution does't deal with solutions. It deals with creating so much variation that there's a chance for some life to survive in case the environment changes. Maybe one day giraffes will decimate their population of trees, so that only shorter shrubs survive. Then the giraffe would lose out the short legged stumpy necked animals that can eat the small shrubs easily. Nothing is certain for the giraffe, no species is done evolving.
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If you have ever seen a giraffe trying to eat grass, which is its staple, you would never believe that its shape was an evolutionary advantage.
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If that were the case... I would have a HUGE couch shaped ass and really long arms for fetching shit out of the kitchen without having to actually get up and get it myself. That... and I would be invisibe and have this weird thing where paper money was attracted to my body by some chemical process not yet known to science.
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The theory of evolution is based upon the idea of "survival of the fittest." Clearly, giraffes with long necks were the ones that were surviving and reproducing, so over time they have evolved to have longer necks. As their environment changes (other animals eating all of the other low-dwelling foliage, for example), all creatures must adapt to their needs. Other leaf-eating mammals aren't imaginary, they just live in different areas and/or have not necessarily NEEDED to have longer necks to eat foliage that grows higher up.
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If that were true all the females would be dead. Their neck is shorter than the males. After the males ate then there would be nothing for the females to reach. The short neck animals eat leaves in a different way. (from the ground or climbing).
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Actually, Robert Simmons and Lue Scheepers hypothesised that the long neck allowed for males giraffes to use their heads as effective weapons for battering their opponents. It is also known that whilst it is common to see photos of giraffes straining to reach leaves high in trees, giraffes usually feed below neck height. The food competition was so plausible, that for decades, no-one thought to test it.
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