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Historical Myths About Why Giraffes Have Long Necks

Any time there is a scientific oddity, numerous explanations arise. It can sometimes be difficult to discern myth from reality. Although the Internet puts instant information at our fingertips, it can also provide instant misinformation or myths. A search for the origin of the giraffe's long neck yields equal amounts of myths and reality.

Scientific Explanations
- According to the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., a couple theories attempt to explain the giraffe's long neck. In his 1859 influential book "Origin of Species," natural scientist Charles Darwin noted the giraffe as an example of natural selection. Darwin hypothesized that giraffes evolved longer necks to reach higher foliage. Those that possessed the trait had a better chance at surviving, and they passed the trait down.
  
  In 1996, Robert Simmons and Lue Scheepers postulated a different reason. They suggested that the long neck evolved due to a mating battle called "necking." The giraffes with the longer necks won these battles more often and were more successful in breeding, which led to long-necked heirs.
Misbehaving George and Georgia
- The Myths and Legends website blames the giraffe's long neck on a pair of giraffe children, a brother and sister named George and Georgia. They were infamous for their shenanigans. A wizard gave their parents instructions for a spell to keep them from misbehaving, but George and Georgia found the instructions before it was cast. They changed the words of the spell to "Oh Spirits we cannot see the sky please let everybody have long necks." Once the spell was cast, it could never be undone.
Tim Gets His Head Stuck in a Tree
- Another myth from Myths and Legends tells of a short-necked giraffe named Tim. Alvin stole Tim's ball and threw it up in a tree. The other giraffes climbed on top of each other to try and reach it. Tim was the highest and they all fell, but his head became stuck high in the tree. The other giraffes pulled on his legs and he finally came down, but not after his neck had been permanently stretched. The long neck turned out to have advantages. When other giraffes saw that he could eat tree leaves without jumping, they went to the same tree and had their necks stretched too.
Boulder on the Neck
- Hades and Boulder threw a rock on the head of an animal that resembled a leopard, says Nick's Myth Page. Zeus had a strong man remove the rock from the animal, but not before it had stretched out its neck to twice its normal length trying to free itself. Zeus asked the animal its name, and it replied "Gerald Raffe."

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