The giraffe’s best defense actually is not their neck, as
some have assumed, but their long legs and heavy hooves,
which can be deadly to enemies. They defend themselves
primarily by kicking. This may be said to explain why they
supposedly evolved long legs, but not why they evolved a
long neck. A popular Gary Larson cartoon pictured giraffe
evolution as progressing from long legs and a short neck
to short legs and a long neck. This humorous parody has
actually been proposed by some researchers, i.e. that the
legs evolved first to allow running from carnivores, then The long necks could have been selected
for all these reasons—or none of them.
Because one could argue equally well that
giraffes evolved their long neck for mating,
for defense, thermoregulation, to facilitate
their fast forward travel (up to 50 km/h),
or for one of many other different reasons,
it is a poor icon of Darwinism. One could
list a hierarchy of what is most critically
important (perhaps this may be why the
food scenario was preferred); but the set of
giraffe traits as a unit seems inseparable,
supporting Creation.