{"id":2412,"date":"2013-11-26T09:56:13","date_gmt":"2013-11-26T14:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cdl\/?p=2412"},"modified":"2013-12-02T13:00:15","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T18:00:15","slug":"why-do-giraffes-have-long-necks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cdl\/2013\/11\/26\/why-do-giraffes-have-long-necks\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do Giraffes Have Long Necks?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/cdl\/files\/2013\/10\/stickman.jpg\"><\/a><a href=\"\/cdl\/files\/2013\/11\/giraffe-225x300.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-2440 alignleft\" height=\"150\" width=\"150\" title=\"giraffe-225x300\" alt=\"giraffe-225x300\" src=\"\/cdl\/files\/2013\/11\/giraffe-225x300-150x150.jpg\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nAnyone who has seen this majestic creature in the wild, nibbling away at the top of an acacia tree, has to marvel at the wonder of evolution. The giraffe\u2019s long neck is a perfect adaptation to the animal\u2019s natural habitat. Clearly the giraffe evolved this uncommon and helpful trait in order to reach those nourishing leaves. That\u2019s how natural selection works.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re a 6-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>As appealing as this explanation is, it shows a complete misunderstanding of the concept of adaptation by natural selection, a key concept in the theory of evolution. What\u2019s wrong with the 6-year-old\u2019s idea is not its focus on the neck\u2019s function. It\u2019s the mistaken notion that an individual giraffe, by its own effort and action, can transform its essential nature in a beneficial way.<\/p>\n<p>Read the full article at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.psychologicalscience.org\/index.php\/news\/were-only-human\/why-do-giraffes-have-long-necks.html\" title=\"Why Do Giraffes Have Long Necks?\">psychologicalscience.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anyone who has seen this majestic creature in the wild, nibbling away at the top of an acacia tree, has to marvel at the wonder of evolution. The giraffe\u2019s long neck is a perfect adaptation to the animal\u2019s natural habitat. Clearly the giraffe evolved this uncommon and helpful trait in order to reach those nourishing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6928,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[216,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cdl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cdl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cdl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cdl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6928"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cdl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2412"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cdl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2414,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cdl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412\/revisions\/2414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cdl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cdl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cdl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}