What is the first thing you think of when you think of a giraffe?

Giraffes are unique animals because they have such long necks. Fossil evidence indicates that the neck of a modern-day giraffe is much longer than the neck of an ancient giraffe or its ancestors.

• How and why did the giraffe change in such a manner? ​

• What are the advantages of having a long neck? ​

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Adaptations, Species S​urvival, and Natural Selection

A giraffe’s long neck is an adaptation because it allows the giraffe to reach leaves located on high tree branches. Adaptations are structures or behaviors in organisms that help them survive in their environment.​

Since a longer neck provides an advantage, giraffes with this trait are more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass the trait on to their offspring than are giraffes with shorter necks.

This is called natural selection, which is the process that occurs over generations by which favorable traits become more common in a species or population and unfavorable traits become less common.​

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Charles Darwin believed that natural selection was the process for evolution​

Charles Darwin

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