Why Giraffes Didn't Become Humans and Other Questions of Evolution

Man and giraffe—what, exactly, do they have in common? How did it happen that starting from a single position and adapting to shared conditions on shared pastures, we ended up so different? And are we really that different? These are questions worth examining more closely. The evolutionary destinies of ancestors of the most different creatures intertwined and influenced one another. That’s why, studying giraffes, we learn a lot about ourselves. And besides, giraffes are beautiful—and that alone deserves a special story. So what is the shared path of humans and giraffes?