The demography of giraffe deaths in a drought
@article{Mitchell2010TheDO, title={The demography of giraffe deaths in a drought}, author={Graham Mitchell and Sybrand J. van Sittert and John D. Skinner}, journal={Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa}, year={2010}, volume={65}, pages={165 - 168} }
ABSTRACT Darwin's theory for the evolution of the long neck of giraffes is that height confers access to browse free of competition from smaller browsers. The theory predicts that survivors of a drought will be the tallest animals in a population. All studies so far have tested this hypothesis by analysis of feeding patterns and behaviour. We have studied it by analysing the demography of deaths in a drought. Using skeletal material from 26 giraffes that died as a result of a drought in…
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