Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Photography and portraiture - Why is the giraffe's neck so long? Can they only eat from trees?

Why is the giraffe's neck so long? Can they only eat from trees?

Those who survive are individuals with long necks, because they can eat the branches and leaves of those big trees and survive. They have an advantage in the competition for survival. After natural selection, it gradually developed into today's long-necked giraffe. The competition law of nature is survival of the fittest. Later, due to the change of natural environment, some low plants, such as grass and shrubs, became less and less, and those individuals with short necks gradually became extinct because of lack of food.

According to Darwin's theory of evolution, giraffes were "short-necked deer" long ago. Suddenly one day, several mutated deer grew longer necks, and the height advantage allowed them to eat higher food. When food is in short supply, short-necked companions are trapped by famine, and a few long-necked people survive. As a result, generation after generation, the giraffes of this family have multiplied to this day, and they all grow big and tall. But anti-Darwinian naturalists asked why the necks of other grassland herbivores didn't get longer and starved to death. Moreover, the neck becomes longer and bigger, and the corresponding body shape should also become bigger from childhood. This requires them to eat more food in the case of drought and famine, which contradicts the theory of evolution.

There is no authoritative answer to why giraffe's neck is so long. Now the accepted view is sexual selection. Male giraffes often fight with their long necks, hit each other with the strength of their necks, and even break each other's spines. Women's necks are relatively short and generally stop growing at the age of ten, while men's necks can continue to grow for more than 20 years.

The photographer photographed a giraffe with a broken neck in Africa. It turned out that this male giraffe was seriously injured in the neck when competing with his companions for the opposite sex, but it could survive tenaciously in the wild without drugs and drugs. Profile proves that giraffes use neck struggle to choose mating partners. Some scientists also believe that giraffe's long neck is used to cool down. During the day, the giraffe will face the sun, which will not only reduce the heat radiation it gets, but also help to dissipate heat. However, these are scientists' speculations, and new ideas may emerge in a few decades. ...