The Idea of an Essay, Volume 2

91 a designer with a specific purpose in mind. According to David Pittman (2011) who wrote the article “Walking Tall by Design,” “… the idea that the neck became elongated stepwise over successive generations under environmental/selection pressures is now shown to be a great deal more complex than previously thought, with a whole assortment of structures and systems that need to be in place to accommodate the long neck….It illustrates the point that an organism is a finely balanced collection of interconnected (and often interdependent), systems. And the only One who can achieve such a delicate balancing act is the creative Genius who designed it in the first place” (p. 2). The Creationists believes the complex science behind the giraffe supports their theory which states that God created the giraffe on day six about 6,000 years ago. The giraffe appeared on this earth as one sees it today, and its long neck and legs remain unchanged, making the giraffe perfect for its environment. Unlike the Evolutionist’s view that focuses more on the hypotheses rather than the evidence that supports them, the Creationist’s does not require any additional hypothesis but focuses mostly on the research found. The scientific research supporting their theory revolves around the fossil record, the complexity and importance of co-dependent mechanisms in the giraffe, and the essential method of the birthing process. The Rebuttal The Fossil Record The evidence found in the fossil record supports the theory which states: the giraffe’s neck did not evolve but was created long, as one sees it today. Dr. Robert E. Simmons (2009), a behavioral ecologist specializing in the ecology of giraffes, believes in the Evolutionist view that the giraffe’s neck evolved into a more complex and better-designed neck over time. In his scholarly article, he uses the fossil record to support his hypothesis. According to Simmons and Altwegg (2010) citing Mitchell and Skinner (2003), and Badlangana et al. (2009), “The earliest fossil ancestor of the giraffe…had skeletally short legs and neck, and occurred in India 12-15 million years ago. The giraffid [(an ancestor to the giraffe)], similar in size to the okapi showed long legs but an unelongated neck and arose about 12- 15 million years ago and went extinct about 9 million years ago. The medium sized Paleotragus germaini