The Idea of an Essay, Volume 2

89 birthing process of a baby giraffe. The Evolutionist’s Theory The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) did not originally possess a long neck. Evolutionists believe the giraffe developed its long neck over an extensive period of time, about 50 million years. According to Evolutionists, the giraffe’s neck evolved as a result of one or two possibilities (Simons & Altwegg, 2010). The first hypothesis is that the giraffe’s neck evolved in order for the early giraffe species to compete against other browsers. This hypothesis was first presented in The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, written by Darwin in 1871 (Simmons & Altwegg, 2010). Evolution of the short neck into a long neck would benefit the giraffe and allow it to graze for foliage which competitors could not reach (“competing browsers hypothesis”) (Simons & Altwegg, 2010). The second hypothesis is the “necks-for-sex” hypothesis. According to Simons and Altwegg (2010) the giraffe’s neck evolved “for direct use in intra-sexual combat” in order to gain a mate. Evolutionists believe the giraffe’s short neck gradually evolved into a longer neck through the process of a certain genes being passed down to the offspring. According to Simmons and Altwegg (2010) who cite Pratt and Anderson (1985), Brand (2007), and Darwin (1871) there are many lines of evidence which support the “necks for sex” hypothesis. First, the males with the longer and larger necks are the males which have the greatest chance of winning a female. Second, the female giraffes prefer males with larger necks. Third, “sexual traits are usually positively allometric [relative growth of a part (the neck) in relation to an entire organism (the giraffe)] (Simmons & Altwegg, 2010). Since the long neck is viewed as a sexual trait, males which successfully breed with the females due to their longer necks will pass this trait along from generation to generation over millions of years, thus resulting in a giraffe with a long neck. These two hypotheses both explain why the giraffe’s neck evolved from a short to long. Evolutionists admit to some problems with their hypotheses. According to Simons and Altwegg (2010), studies made by Simons & Scheepers (1996) “[were] found to [have] inconsistent support from foraging studies” (p. 7). Recent studies by Shorrocks in 2009 showed the giraffe frequently grazed at shoulder length and below