There are millions of species on earth, and they all look strange and unique.


For example, the giraffes living on the African continent are the most characteristic, they have a long neck.


Look tall and big, in nature there are generally no natural predators, but there are lions hunting giraffes.


Giraffe cubs are 1.5 meters tall when they are just born, and as adults the giraffe can reach a height of 6-8 meters.


This means that it can eat the branches and leaves of plants two stories high when it stretches its neck.


There are nine subspecies of giraffe according to the traditional classification, and seven subspecies according to the latest classification.


Giraffes have extraordinary necks no longer need to compete with other herbivores for resources on the ground.


They can lift their necks and eat the young shoots and leaves on tall trees.


The giraffe, a large herbivore, has been the subject of much debate because of its peculiar appearance and extra-long neck.


The most famous one is the debate between Darwin's theory of evolution and Lamarck's doctrine.


Lamarck was a French naturalist and an important founder of biology.


He was also the first scientist to propose the evolution of species.


Lamarck believed that the giraffe's long neck was the result of frequent use and that it evolved after use, and that evolved traits could be passed on genetically.


Darwin's theory of evolution discusses giraffes, starting with genetic mutations.


Long necks emerged in giraffe populations, and these long-necked individuals were more advantageous in the ensuing competition.


According to the principle of survival of the fittest, these long-necked giraffes survived.


In fact, we can see that Lamarck and Darwin have debates about the giraffe, but they both generally agree that the evolutionary drive of the giraffe's long neck is related to eating.


A research result related to giraffes was published in the journal Science on June 3.


Scientists believe that the evolution of giraffes' long necks was not that simple and was not just about eating taller leaves or shoots.


Scientists have discovered an early species of giraffe in a 17-million-year-old stratum in the Junggar Basin of Xinjiang.


Scientists have found a disc-shaped horn on the fossilized head of an early giraffe, which is unusually hard.


At the same time, its cervical vertebrae close to the head are thick and hard, and the connecting joints are very complex and stronger than those of all mammals.


Scientists, with the help of kinetic simulations, found that these characteristics of early giraffes are very conducive to their high-speed hedging.


The giraffe's long neck is for males to compete with each other for the right to speak, and the winning side has the right to mate.


Scientists believe that it is this drive that makes giraffes' necks longer and longer.


Giraffes have spent millions of years making their necks longer and longer, and have likewise earned themselves a more marginal ecological niche.


But marginal doesn't mean disadvantaged.


Tall giraffes have access to food resources in higher positions, an ability that many other herbivores do not have.


Then it also means that no one is competing with itself.


The long necks, empowered by sexual selection, also have access to ample food resources by chance.


The result is the stable development of the giraffe as a population.