2022/06/02 by Shiqi Wang, Jie Ye, Jin Meng +10 · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
paper · doi:10.1126/science.abl8316
openalex publication_date 2022/06/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
The long neck of the giraffe has been held as a classic example of adaptive evolution since Darwin’s time. Here we report on an unusual fossil giraffoid, Discokeryx xiezhi , from the early Miocene, which has an unusual disk-shaped headgear and the most complicated head-neck joints in known mammals. The distinctive morphology and our finite element analyses indicate an adaptation for fierce head-butting behavior. Tooth enamel isotope data suggest that D. xiezhi occupied a niche different from that of other herbivores, comparable to the characteristic high-level browsing niche of modern giraffes. The study shows that giraffoids exhibit a higher headgear diversity than other ruminants and that living in specific ecological niches may have fostered various intraspecific combat behaviors that resulted in extreme head-neck morphologies in different giraffoid lineages.