--- title: Giraffe's Long Neck Explained By Science: It's in the Genes description: A difference of as few as 70 genes led giraffes to distinguish themselves from their closest relative with their long necks canonical: https://time.com/4339778/giraffe-long-neck/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-18T12:28:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T01:21:35.000Z article:section: Science og:title: Giraffe's Long Neck Explained By Science: It's in the Genes og:description: A difference of as few as 70 genes led giraffes to distinguish themselves from their closest relative with their long necks og:url: https://time.com/4339778/giraffe-long-neck/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68b1d6c3e5da058f/698893a3524fc0defadf808e/giraffe-photo-long-necks.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5160 og:image:height: 2903 og:image:alt: giraffe photo long necks og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Giraffe's Long Neck Explained By Science: It's in the Genes twitter:description: A difference of as few as 70 genes led giraffes to distinguish themselves from their closest relative with their long necks twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68b1d6c3e5da058f/698893a3524fc0defadf808e/giraffe-photo-long-necks.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Science Explains Why the Giraffe Has Such a Long Neck > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 15, 2023 1:21 AM UTCPublished: May 18, 2016 12:28 PM UTC  The Serengeti National Park is a Tanzanian national park in the Serengeti ecosystem in Mara Region. It is famous for its annual migration of over 1.5 million white bearded wildebeest and 250,000 zebra and for its numerous Nile crocodile The Serengeti National Park is a Tanzanian national park in the Serengeti ecosystem in Mara Region. It is famous for its annual migration of over 1.5 million white bearded wildebeest and 250,000 zebra and for its numerous Nile crocodile Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Updated: Dec 15, 2023 1:21 AM UTCPublished: May 18, 2016 12:28 PM UTC A difference of as few as 70 genes led giraffes to distinguish themselves from their closest relative by their long necks, according to new [research](http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/ncomms11519). Researchers behind the study, published in the journal _Nature Communications,_ sequenced the genomes of two giraffes and one okapi—the giraffe’s closest relative. The development of the long neck likely comes as a result of genetic changes to proteins that control growth and others that control the body and limb development. These genes also control how the cardiovascular system develops, which further helps explain how giraffes are able to pump blood around the body given their height. **Read More**: [See Photos of Endangered Species from the 1960s](http://time.com/3715338/endangered-species/) The research could help further conservation efforts to protect the animal, researchers said. The giraffe population has declined by 40% over the past 15 years, according to a [press release](http://news.psu.edu/story/410769/2016/05/17/research/how-did-giraffe-get-its-long-neck). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4339778/giraffe-long-neck/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4339778/giraffe-long-neck/"},"headline":"Science Explains Why the Giraffe Has Such a Long Neck","datePublished":"2016-05-18T12:28:38.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T01:21:35.000Z","description":"It all comes down to as few as 70 genes","url":"https://time.com/4339778/giraffe-long-neck/","keywords":["animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68b1d6c3e5da058f/698893a3524fc0defadf808e/giraffe-photo-long-necks.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68b1d6c3e5da058f/698893a3524fc0defadf808e/giraffe-photo-long-necks.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"giraffe photo long necks","caption":"giraffe photo long necks","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4339778/giraffe-long-neck/","name":"Science Explains Why the Giraffe Has Such a Long Neck"}}]}] ```