Is it true that giraffes gradually developed long necks so that they could reach the leaves at the top of tall trees?

Giraffes Didn’t Evolve Long Necks Simply to Reach Tree Leaves, New Study Shows. Lamarck’s idea suggested they stretched their necks and passed the stretching down through generations. A modern genetic version of the idea suggests natural selection for better height and reach was at play.

What was incorrect about Lamarck’s explanation for how the giraffe got its long neck?

But Darwin did not buy Lamarck’s ideas on how evolutionary change came about. Instead he argued that the giraffe’s neck results from repeated “natural selection”. Long-necked giraffes were more likely to survive hard times than their short-necked rivals.

How would Lamarck have explained why giraffes have long necks?

According to Lamarck, the giraffe got its long neck because its ancestors stretched theirs to eat leaves that were just out of reach. This stretching of the neck was passed on to their offspring, over generations, until it reached its current length.

How did Darwin explain how the giraffe developed its long neck?

Charles Darwin was the first to propose that giraffes evolved into the elegantly long-necked creatures they are because successive generations realised that extra vertebrae helped them get access to tender leaves on top of trees. Without this trait of jugaad and innovation, we may have evolved very differently indeed.

What feature of the environment enabled the development of long neck of the giraffe?

Use and Disuse. The classic example used to explain the concept of use and disuse is the elongated neck of the giraffe. According to Lamarck’s theory, a given giraffe could, over a lifetime of straining to reach high branches, develop an elongated neck.

How is the evolution of animal like the long necked giraffe explained by Charles Darwin?

A Darwinian theory of evolution posits that it was through random variation that some giraffes had longer necks than others. Because they could access food, the giraffes with longer necks were better able to survive and reproduce, with their offspring inheriting their long necks.

How would Jean Baptiste Lamarck describe the evolution of long necks in giraffes compare this to how Darwin would describe the evolution of long necks in giraffes?

According to Darwin’s theory, giraffes that happened to have slightly longer necks and limbs would have a better chance of securing food and thus be able to have more offspring — the “select” who survive. Conversely, in Lamarck’s view, a structure or organ would shrink or disappear if used less or not at all.