The Idea of an Essay, Volume 2

126 (Mitchel, Skinner, 2009, p. 526) Hypertrophy of the left ventricle increases until full maturity is reached (Mitchel & Skinner, 2009). This was proven true by Mitchel and Skinner (2009) as they dissected the hearts and found that giraffes with longer necks possessed a left ventricle that was thicker. The picture below shows a cross section of a fetal giraffe’s left ventricle, interventricular wall, and right ventricle (heart A) compared to the mature adults’ (heart B). While looking at this picture, one will notice the increased hypertrophy in the left ventricle (labeled “LV”) in the adult heart (B) compared to the fetal heart (A). (Mitchel & Skinner, 2009, p.527) According to Mitchel and Skinner (2009), “[Left ventricles] are massively hypertrophied in giraffes, a process [their] data show