How would Darwin and Lamarck both explain the long neck of the giraffe?

How would Darwin and Lamarck both explain the long neck of the giraffe?

In terms of the giraffe example, Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection would suggest that a giraffe was born with a longer neck by random chance. Because this individual had a longer neck, it was able to reach food sources that other animals couldn’t.

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. The giraffes with longer necks were more successful in getting food and produced more longer-necked offspring.

How are the long necks of giraffes explained by evolution?

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 could be a possible explanation for the length of a giraffe’s neck?

It appears obvious: the giraffe’s neck, which can grow to as much as two metres in length, has been selected because it gives its owner exclusive access to the topmost leaves of the trees, and no other animal can reach them. This, then, is an adaptation designed to avoid competition for food with other animals.

What did Lamarck and Darwin agree on?

Darwin and Lamarck also agreed that life evolved from fewer, simpler organisms to many, more complex organisms. Why We Believe Darwin Darwin’s theory has been supported by a lot of evidence. Lamarck’s Theory of Inher- itance of Acquired Characteristics has been disproved.

Why is lamarckism wrong?

Lamarck’s Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics has been disproved. The other way that Lamarck’s theory has been proven wrong is the study of genetics. Darwin knew that traits are passed on, but he never understood how they are passed on.

How did Lamarck explain the evolution of giraffes?

He believed that traits changed or acquired over an individual’s lifetime could be passed down to its offspring. Giraffes that had acquired long necks would have offspring with long necks rather than the short necks their parents were born with. This type of inheritance, sometimes called Lamarckian inheritance,…

Why did giraffes have long legs and necks?

According to Lamarck, this was evidenced in the case of giraffes growing longer legs and necks through multiple generations to meet their food needs. Darwin, on the other hand, argued that animals with more efficient inherent traits would survive through natural selection,…

Which is part of Lamarck’s mechanism for evolution?

The second part of Lamarck’s mechanism for evolution involved the inheritance of acquired traits. He believed that traits changed or acquired over an individual’s lifetime could be passed down to its offspring. Giraffes that had acquired long necks would have offspring with long necks rather than the short necks their parents were born with.

Which is an example of Lamarck’s theory of transformation?

His theory is alternatively referred to as the theory of transformation or simply Lamarckism. Though today Lamarck’s work is considered a major step forward, in his lifetime he did not receive much recognition. The classic example used to explain the concept of use and disuse is the elongated neck of the giraffe.

How did the long neck of a giraffe evolve?

Meanwhile organs that organisms stopped using would shrink. Lamarck believed that the long necks of giraffes evolved as generations of giraffes reached for ever higher leaves. This sort of evolution, for which Lamarck is most famous today, was only one of two mechanisms he proposed.

What did Lamarck say about giraffes and evolution?

For a start, Lamarck made only a single, passing mention of giraffes in all his many writings. Yet it is this we remember him for – rather than the prescience of his ideas on evolution, which hugely influenced Darwin, or the many other contributions he made.

Why do giraffes feed with their necks bent?

What’s more, giraffes feed most often and faster with their necks bent. There is also the question of why giraffes have been around 2m taller than any of their competition for over 1 million years.

How did Charles Darwin think the giraffe adapted to its habitat?

For Charles Darwin, however, the giraffe seemed to capture the essence of evolution – β€œThe giraffe, by its lofty stature, much-elongated neck, fore-legs, head, and tongue, has its whole frame beautifully adapted for browsing on the higher branches of trees.”