In conclusion, we agree with Gould that the standard
story of giraffe evolution ‘in fact, is both fatuous and unsupported’,
and that ‘in the realm of giraffes, current use
of maximal mammalian height for browsing acacia leaves
does not prove that the neck evolved for such a function’.
Gould believes that several alternative scenarios exist to
explain why giraffes have long necks.53 In fact, we have
no scientific evidence supporting any one of his naturalistic
explanations, nor do we we have evidence to prefer any
plausible naturalistic version over another. All explanations
are an attempt to try to explain what exists by developing
what amounts to what Gould calls ‘just so stories’.