Aside from the fact that no evidence exists for this ‘necking’
theory, another problem is that a short-necked giraffe
would not be able to use its neck as a club, thus ‘necking’
would be totally ineffective until giraffes had sufficiently
long necks. How could necking behaviour evolve until they
had a long enough neck to involve themselves in necking
behavior. They may have used butting behavior (as do
male deer) until their necks evolved. A problem with this
theory is that the longer-necked giraffe was at a distinct
disadvantage for butting behavior (which requires a short,
thick neck), and would be ‘selected against’ in nature.
Furthermore, the necking hypothesis would not explain
the giraffe’s very long legs. Mating rituals are relatively
varied and flexible, and evolving a longer neck is fraught
with anatomical and biological problems that must be overcome
(some of which are discussed below). The principle
in science called Ockham’s Razor argues that it would be
far easier for a more functional mating ritual to evolve necks
like almost all other animals use rather than for a 3-metre
neck to evolve.