What’s up With Giraffe’s neck?
The classic theory of why giraffes have such weirdly long necks says that competition to reach more food led to giraffes with the longest necks being more likely to survive. If other animals couldn’t reach these leaves, longer necked giraffes could enjoy lunch even during hard times when leaves were scarce.
Then another theory came along: bigger, longer necks were better for whacking each other. Male giraffes fight for dominance by swinging their necks and whacking each other. It’s incredible—so graceful yet so vicious. The theory goes that longer necks with more muscle pack a bigger punch. The giraffes who won the neck battles were more likely to mate and pass on their genes.
But there is still more theories! A group of scientists decided to measure the differences in necks between male and female giraffes and discovered that female giraffes actually have proportionally longer necks than males.
The scientists suggested the females used their long necks to probe deeper into bushes to find the most nutritious food. Giraffes are notoriously picky eaters and only feed on the freshest leaves. And since female giraffes spend most of their adult lives either pregnant or providing milk for their calves—the longest neck could provide the bestest, freshest diet for mums. Maybe the evolutionary driver of long necks wasn’t male giraffes and their battles for dominance, but mama giraffes’ dietary needs.
And then, don’t forget that a very, very long neck gives giraffes a very, very good view of any predators that might be sneaking around. Giraffes also have enormous eyeballs on the end of those long necks—all the better to see you with.
Which theory is right? Maybe scientists don’t have to choose. Maybe all three are all a little bit right.
But here’s another theory. To be honest, it’s my theory without any scientific evidence, but it is by far and away my favourite.
I’ve known for a long time that giraffes don’t make noise. I wrote about giraffes in my Beastly Puzzles: An Animal Guessing Game. “Giraffes can make noise, but rarely do.” Take another peak at the giraffe fight video. Did you notice that they don’t make a single sound?? Amazing.
So here’s the interesting thing. Scientists have discovered that giraffes are in fact making noise—we just can’t hear it. And no just any noise: giraffes hum! They hum at super low frequency, so low humans can’t hear it. Scientists believe that these infrasonic sounds might be used for long-range communication.
So here’s my theory (and it’s just my theory) of the evolutionary driver of giraffes’ ridiculously long necks: like the world’s longest, most impressive infrasonic didgeridoo, giraffes’ necks evolved to produce better communications. Longer necks made better, more handsomer sounds that travelled further for better herd communication. (Remember, this is just my theory—so quote me with caution.) This could explain why females have proportionally longer necks—they actually need to communicate with their herd—whereas older, male giraffes are often solitary.
So which theory is right? I’m not a scientist, but I say all of them at the same time. The more the merrier! One thing I do know for certain is that scientists will keep studying and debating and questioning. And to giraffes everywhere, I say “Keep those necks long and weird!”
Want to know more?
Here’s some reading:
Why do giraffes have long necks: https://www.wired.com/story/why-do-giraffes-have-long-necks/
Giraffes may be long-necked for fights: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/02/science/giraffe-neck-evolution.html
Female giraffes drove evolution to feed on most nutritious leaves: https://theconversation.com/female-giraffes-drove-the-evolution-of-long-giraffe-necks-in-order-to-feed-on-the-most-nutritious-leaves-new-research-suggests-227029
Giraffes spend their evenings humming to each other : https://www.newscientist.com/article/2058123-giraffes-spend-their-evenings-humming-to-each-other/
And a good video overview: