The Strange Elegance of the Giraffe-Necked Antelope

Posted by Johnny Cat in Animal on October 13, 2009 at 4:34 pm


alien_1

Enjoy this piece on Scienceray about the wonderful Giraffe-Necked Antelope of East Africa.  Just as their taller friends have evolved to get to the higher branches of green in a barren landscape, this unique species also took to the higher branches of smaller flora.

It’s also obvious, but worth pointing out ~ they’re as cute as all getout.

They will use their forelegs to pull down branches that are even higher than they are and can get to tender new leaves that other animals cannot.  As a plus, the GNA does not need to drink water at all – it gets all the moisture it needs from the plants they devour.

Link |Image by Flickr user nonisense.


Previous post
this post? Please Email this               
Next post

Tags: , , ,


FUN PRODUCTS FROM THE NEATORAMA SHOP:


COMMENT

9 comments to "The Strange Elegance of the Giraffe-Necked Antelope"

  1. seekshelter
    October 13th, 2009 at 5:34 pm

    mmmm....tasty neck meat...

  2. zavatone
    October 13th, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    Tastes like BACON!

  3. harold
    October 13th, 2009 at 6:33 pm

    That's not a bit funny. Its a very rare, threatened animal.

  4. Nora
    October 13th, 2009 at 6:39 pm

    Its like a Llama... no, I guess its still more of an antelope... I know! I shall call it Llamalope.

  5. VM
    October 13th, 2009 at 10:57 pm

    I remember watching some gerenuks last time I was at the LA Zoo, extending themselves to the utmost in their drive to trim an extra inch of the grass surrounding their paddock.

  6. haribo
    October 14th, 2009 at 4:23 am

    "Just as their taller friends have evolved to get to the higher branches of green in a barren landscape". A common evolutionary misconception. No animal evolves in order to help itself, eg the giraffe's genes did not 'decide' to alter to reach trees, rather the genes altered and this proved beneficial, therefore they were passed on to the animal's offspring.

  7. ChrysaMarie
    October 14th, 2009 at 8:17 am

    Do these remind anyone else of the Kaminoans from Star Wars Episode 2?

  8. T_T_D
    October 14th, 2009 at 1:28 pm

    Thanks for posting this. I've been trying to ID this animal from this really funny gif that I saved from a long time ago.

  9. Ali S.
    October 16th, 2009 at 12:40 am

    @ Nora

    You win +1 Internets!


PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT

Neatorama Comment Policy
You don't have to register or login to comment, but it's easier if you do so. Comments aren't censored, but those that are abusive or off-topic may be edited or deleted.


Stay updated on the comments with Comment RSS