ABOVE: Giraffes appear to be just as strange on the inside as they are on the outside. A new study reveals how these animals have evolved highly mutated genes in order to support their odd physique.
MOGENS TROLLE
With their long necks, giraffes are a poster child for evolutionary oddities, but scientists know very little about the genetic underpinnings of such an extreme adaptation. An updated giraffe genome, published March 17 in Science Advances, reveals new insights into how the species accommodates what Rasmus Heller, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Copenhagen and an author on the new study, calls a “blatantly strange body architecture.” Giraffe’s bones grow faster than any other animal, for instance, and the blood pressure required to pump blood up its six-foot neck would be fatal to humans. “If you’re an evolutionary biologist, it’s a no-brainer to try to explain what drove that animal to look ...
