The Idea of an Essay, Volume 2

93 do, in fact, exist; however, these fossils resemble the Okapi which is a mammal with the same features as a giraffe except for a shorter neck. Anderson and Wieland (2007) claim, “When [they] see fossils of Giraffa, there are no short, intermediate and long-necked forms, let alone [ones] showing a progression” (p. 1). Based on the fossil record, the fossils of quadrupeds with short necks easily could have been okapis. More importantly, though, are the fossils not found. Archeologists and scientists have failed to find any fossils up to this point showing the giraffe with an intermediate long neck, and they certainly have not found numerous amounts of fossils which could be placed together to show the slow progression or the timeline of the neck evolution mentioned in these two hypotheses. The Essential Mechanisms in Place as a Result of Hypertension Another problem for the Evolutionists is that their theories do not consider the complexity and co-dependence of mechanisms that prevent hypertension as the neck elongates. According to research done by Mittchel and Skinner (2009) on the anatomy of the heart in giraffes, as the baby giraffe matures into an adult, its neck grows longer and its blood pressure increases. Zhang (2006) says, as a result of their long necks, giraffes have extremely high blood pressure and could potentially run into many problems if it were not for certain mechanisms they possess. This creates a problem for the evolutionist. According to Simmons and Altwegg (2010), “we need to determine what maintains giraffe’s 2.5m above possible competitors when there are costs” (p. 10). These costs include predation rate, blood pressure and skeletal lengthening (Warren, 1974; Mitchell et al., 2006 as qtd in Simmons and Altwegg, 2010). As one can see, Evolutionists themselves recognize hypertension as detriment to their own hypotheses. As the neck and legs evolve, these mechanisms must simultaneously develop, perfect and complete, in order to keep the mammal alive. Graham Mitchell, is a zoologist at the University of Wyoming and believes in the Evolutionist’s theory. In his scholarly article titled “An allometric analysis of the giraffe cardiovascular system,” Mitchell (2009) says, “There has been co-evolution of a long neck and high blood pressure in giraffes. How the cardiovascular system has adapted to produce a high blood pressure… [is] largely unknown” (p. 1). An alarming problem in the Evolutionist’s theory is admitted by this statement. The giraffe