It turns out the secret to the organic evolution of the giraffe ’s foresighted neck has been sit in museums for the last hundred years . In arecent studypublished in the journalRoyal Society Open Science , scientists collected and analyze 71 ancient dodo , primitively discovered in the later 19th and other twentieth centuries , and scatter throughout museums in England , Austria , Germany , Sweden , Kenya , and Greece .
Using fossilized vertebra from nine out and two living species in the giraffe family , they charted out the process of neck elongation , which they discovered occurred in two stages , jillion of days apart . They found that the first phase of elongation occurred around seven million years ago in a now - extinct genus of giraffe called theSamotherium .
They also find that the animal ’s cervix vertebrae stretch first toward the head , then several million years later on , toward the tail . The phylogeny , however , was n’t consistent . That is , not all ancient metal money within the giraffe family see both stage of extension .
Giraffe anatomy expert Nikos Solounias explained in apress statement , “ First , only the front portion of the C3 vertebra lengthen in one group of mintage . The second stage was the elongation of the back portion of the C3 neck vertebra . The mod giraffe is the only coinage that underwent both stages , which is why it has a signally long neck opening . "
The researcher also discovered that the other Giraffa camelopardalis specimen started out with a slightly elongated neck . Melinda Danowitz , a medical student who participated in the project , said in the assertion , “ The lengthening started before the giraffe class was even created 16 million years ago . ”
Interestingly , the okapi , which is the only other living member of the giraffe family , underwent the opposite transformation : As the giraffe ’s neck opening was stretching , the Okapia johnstoni ’s neck get under one’s skin shorter . Now , according to Danowitz , it ’s one of four species with a " secondarily shortened neck opening . "
[ h / t : Science Daily ]
