Giraffe Genome Unhelpful to Evolution
It seems that anyone who has seen pictures of nature knows about the giraffe, what with the spots, iconic neck, and those knobby things on their heads. They may look cute, but their kicks can kill lions. Those necks are heavy and muscular, and they use them for fighting each other. Best keep your distance.
Of course, the long neck is the giraffe's most famous feature. Lamarck told a just-so story that involved giraffes stretching for food up high, then this was passed on to succeeding generations. (For some reason, this technique never worked for other critters.) Then Charles Darwin made the long neck origin story better because he was the wisest and most brilliant scientist who ever lived.
Credit: Freeimages / Leslie van Veenhuyzen |
The suite of adaptations associated with the extreme stature of the giraffe has long interested biologists and physiologists. By generating a high-quality chromosome-level giraffe genome and a comprehensive comparison with other ruminant genomes, we identified a robust catalog of giraffe-specific mutations. These are primarily related to cardiovascular, bone growth, vision, hearing, and circadian functions.What? No genes directly accounting for long necks?
You can read the full article at "Giraffe Genome Doesn’t Support Darwinism". Just for fun, take a glance at "Giraffe Genome Is Not Evolutionary". While there is a little bit of extra text, I reckon it's by the same author. Also of interest is "Evolutionists Still Mystified by Giraffe Neck".