2009/5/15 Alok G. Singh <[email protected]> > > There was a fascinating account that I read between the arms race > between giraffes and the acacia trees that they feed on. One of the > finest examples to illustrate the complexity and sophistication of the > plant kingdom. I do not have a link to share but perhaps one of you do ? > > Wasn't able to find the specific article, but based on your post I did some searching and found this instead - http://notexactlyrocketscience.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/loss-of-big-mammals-breaks-alliance-between-ants-and-trees/which is quite interesting.
On the longer neck, there is this very long discussion at the richard dawkins forum - http://richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11077&sid=5abcc3c07dc96e0cd8a3de7da0c197e5 Read it when you have loads to time to spare, but the plausible explanation seems to be that while natural selection resulted in necks getting longer gradually. At some point of time sexual selection results in rapid elongation of the neck, and finally natural selection kicks in again due to the developmental energy required, circulation etc. and all of a sudden long necks are not so hot. There might be some old-timers who still fantasize about longer necks though... Kiran
