For years, there has been scant fossil evidence showing how the giraffe evolved to have such an admirably long neck. But now, the remains of a 7-million-year-old creature with a shorter neck provides ...

Researchers have discovered stages of cervical elongation in the giraffe family, revealing details about the evolutionary transformation of the neck within extinct species of the family. Scientists ...

The age-old question of how the giraffe got its long neck may now be at least partly answered: Long necks were present in giraffe ancestors that lived at least 16 million years ago, a new study finds.

For the first time, the genomes of the giraffe and its closest living relative, the reclusive okapi of the African rainforest, have been sequenced -- revealing the first clues about the genetic ...

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - Fossils unearthed in China of a forerunner of the modern giraffe are offering insight into the early evolution of this mammal's trademark long neck, driven not only by ...

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. A strange early ...

Giraffes have taught generations of students how evolution works. Not directly, of course. Communicating through nocturnal humming is a barrier to classroom instruction. But the modern giraffe – ...

It’s 1996 and paleontologist Jin Meng is exploring the Junggar Basin in Xinjiang, China. The valley is nestled between the mountainous borders of Kazakhstan and Mongolia in the northwest. The Basin ...

Like us, giraffes today have seven neck (or cervical) vertebrae. But their C3 or third cervical vertebra – which is nine times longer than it is wide – is about as long as the humerus bone connecting ...

Scientists have long theorized that the long neck of modern-day giraffes evolved to enable them to find more vegetation or to develop a specialized method of fighting. A new study of fossil cervical ...

The giraffe's neck as made us reconsider our understanding of how evolution really works. How and why the giraffe's neck emerged in the first place has been a mystery that generations of biologists ...