This assignment focuses on the Camelopardalis species a type of giraffe. One of the noticeable characteristics of this species is its elongated neck that enables it to reach the topmost part of the trees to be able to get foliage for sustainability. This essay looks into the long-necked trait and what has led to its development. Amongst the synergistic population, this is a species that had taken its line of life which had been influenced by the rule of natural selection and survival for the fittest. Due to the variations in the amount of rainfall the vegetation dries up and the remains are usually at the treetops hence they are forced to adapt through this trait. Camelopardalis (camelopard) is the species that originated from the Romans; the species are depicted to contain a blend of characteristics of both the leopard and the camel. The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) and the okapi are the two remaining populations of the family Giraffidae in this species. There exists several subspecies which were classified by the color of their skin and pattern variations. Giraffes are long-necked, even-toed land-living mammals. They are the largest ruminant animals existing. Their body is covered with uneven patches of fur whose color range from black to yellow. These patches are separated by white color, manila backgrounds (David& Bruce 1996).
Due to their selective nature of feeding, the giraffes are known to be well associated with acacia trees although their existence can be found in open woodlands, savannas, and the grasslands. Formally, their existence occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (Chad to South Africa) in the dry and bare savanna zones wherever trees existed. Nowadays, their range has greatly contradicted due to human influence and climatic changes, especially in the West African countries. (David & Bruce 1996).
Giraffes are known to have evolved from antelope-like mammals that used to exist in Asia and Europe 40-50 million years ago. The earliest was one that looked like a deer that appeared in the early Miocene. Later, the genera Palaeotragus and Samotherium were seen in the mid-Miocene. They all had taller and slender shoulders although they had shorter necks. In the late Pliocene, the subspecies of the girrafids had reduced drastically leaving only the Okapi and the modern Giraffe with the latter approximated to have had appeared about a million years ago. The okapi which resembles the giraffe has far shorter neck as compared to the modern giraffes. An adult giraffe is approximately 15-17ft tall with the length of the neck said to be 2.4m although male giraffes are said to be taller than the female ones (David& Bruce 1996).
Giraffe’s long neck showed welcoming gesturers for Scientists’ quest to explain the theory of evolution among the animals. As per Lamarck’s argument, we imagine a scenario in the long past when there was stiff competition for food by the browsing animals on the ground (David& Bruce 1996). The alternative way was the foliage which was on top of the trees. Think of a time in life where the ancestors of the giraffe were the deer or the antelope. The changes in the environment obliged the animals to look for food up the trees which led to changes of organ development structure of the animal such as prolonged neck and tall hind legged giraffes. This theory was supported by the Darwin theory of ‘survival for the fittest’ which supports the idea that the animal had a lot of competition from the browsers forcing them to search for food from the top of the trees which made the species with short necks to die off leaving the ones with long powerful necks to survive. These changes affected their next generations due to DNA modification (David& Bruce 1996).
The other theory that supports the evolution of the long neck is sexual selection. This sexual selection theory was proposed by Simons and Scheepers (David& Bruce 1996). During mating, these animals especially the males use their long necks to attack each other. This is the way they compete for the female. The one that is defeated runs away or gets killed through continuous kicking. The stronger male that remains, is the one that mates with the female. These genes being powerful and strong are expressed physically through the actions of the giraffe hence the eventual selection of the longer and stronger necks over the shorter ones.
Necking also has another function which is sexual relations between the males. Males neck each other till they mount and achieve a sexual climax. The male encounters occur severally as compared to necking between the male and the female during sexual production male and female neck for the real sexual production. Animals that we’re able to stretch above the other animals survived. They rather mated and left young ones which had either inherited some abnormal necks that will be different in one way or the other. This practice continued for a long because there are no longer giraffes with shorter or normal necks. The evolution of the giraffe shows that through sexual reproduction, hereditary genes are passed on to future generations through dictating the conformation of the DNA which carries these genes. According to David and Bruce, inheritance of favorable characteristics can only occur if there is an alteration in the gene carrier or DNA of an animal (1996).
Due to climatic changes and human interference into Giraffes ecosystems, the giraffes will be forced into smaller ecosystems where they will compete for food and mating partners. We expect them to develop very tall, powerful, and muscular necks to help them stand the competition for mating and foliage.
Reference
David, J. D., & BDruce H. W. (1996). Darwinism Evolving: Systems Dynamics and the Genealogy of Natural Selection. Massachusetts: MIT Press.