A strange early relative of the giraffe was perfectly adapted for headbutting 17 million years ago – and an unusual fossil discovery reveals why giraffes adapted to grow such a long neck.

How the giraffe got its long neck The giraffe’s journey to long-necked wonder began more than 20 million years ago, a new study finds. praetoriansentry /Flickr ( CC-BY 2.0 ) ...

Richard du Toit/Corbis. How the giraffe got its neck is a question people have asked for centuries, both in science labs and ancient myths. Now, thanks to a study of fossils from giraffe ancestors ...

They analyzed the neck bones of four S. majorindividuals, three giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) and three okapis (O. johnstoni). On average, giraffes had 6.5-foot-long (2 meters) necks .

After debating this question for the past 150 years, biologists still cannot agree on which of these two factors was the most ...

Because while Darwin was able to explain how the giraffe’s long neck evolved, the question of why has proved to be much more complicated than we thought. See, in 1996, ...

Genes reveal clues to giraffe's long neck. By Brian Mastroianni. May 17, 2016 / 5:58 PM EDT / CBS News Have you ever wondered how ...

The long neck isn't unique to the giraffe family, but grew longer in three separate stages over the past 16 million years, a new study finds. Skip to main content. Open menu Close menu ...

Its neck was long, but nothing like a modern giraffe’s, and researchers have yet to pinpoint how the animal’s anatomical features connect with its counterparts today. Still, Discokeryx was ...