Dads, Grads, and . . . Giraffes?

by Terri Kammerzell

Truth of Genesis Ministry Partner

With Father’s Day coming this Sunday and graduates being honored this month, how about adding one more reason to celebrate: the giraffe! This Sunday happens to be World Giraffe Day. It’s actually an annual event every June 21, chosen specifically to draw attention to the longest-necked animal (currently living) in the world on the longest day (depending on your hemisphere) of the year.

Although the event, started by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, was meant to bring attention to the challenges of giraffes in the wild, zoos and other agencies around the world are finding their own ways to celebrate. And it isn’t hard to find a list of things anyone can do to “raise awareness.” But while so many are turning their attention to this beautiful creature, let’s turn our attention to its Maker! Giraffes are amazing animals that defy evolution in a number of ways. But here’s an easy way for you to remember:

What is one of the special design features of the giraffe?
Giraffes have valves in their necks to keep their brains from exploding when they bend down for water and stand back up again.

God provided these majestic creatures, usually standing 14-20 feet tall, with a heart so strong that, pumping against gravity to move blood up the giraffe’s six-foot neck, it generates pressure about twice that of a human heart or of any other large mammal. In fact, a giraffe’s heart is usually up to two feet long and weighs about 25 pounds. But what happens when the giraffe bends its neck all the way to the ground to get a drink of water, and then its heart is pumping with gravity?

God gave the giraffe a pressure-signaling system. The one-way check valves that carry the blood from the giraffe’s heart to its brain close, limiting the amount of pressure. Still, the pressure that does make it that far could be enough to end the giraffe. However, at the base of the brain, God installed a “wonder net” of spongy tissue that expands to absorb the blood and protect the brain.

How about when the giraffe stands back up? Have you ever had that experience of passing out or coming close to it when you stand up too quickly? What if a lion were coming after you, and your head and neck were at least ten times as big? Your chances of survival would be slim, wouldn’t they?

When the giraffe stands back up—even quickly enough to run from a lion—the sponge squeezes, the valves going to the brain open again, and the valves going back down to the heart close. Isn’t that an amazing design process?!

All these parts needed to be in place at once—not evolving one at a time—in order for giraffes to have survived from generation to generation because, as a pretty good rule of thumb, dead animals cannot evolve. If God hadn’t designed them that way from the beginning, how many giraffes would have had to explode, pass out, or become food for prey before their offspring were finally able to “develop” the perfect chance combination of genes necessary to survive these daily tasks? Isn’t it more likely that they were created just that way, right from the beginning?

Incidentally, evolutionists, including Darwin himself, have tried to suggest that giraffes’ necks have become longer over the ages. If that were the case, what would you expect paleontologists to have found? Fossils of short-necked giraffes? How about transitional fossils of medium-necked giraffes? Guess what?! Paleontologists have found none of these. God created giraffes to have long necks, strong hearts, and built-in valves to keep their brains from exploding when they bend down for water and stand back up again. The giraffe is one of many amazing designs from an amazing Designer.

So, if you’re having a hard time picking out something special for that dad or grad in your life, try a trip to your nearby zoo, spend the day watching the San Diego Zoo’s live “giraffe cam,” or find a giraffe plush, book, or mug as a gift. In any event, be sure to share the Fun Fact you learned this week!
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Don’t just take my word for it! Visit YouFormedMe.com/animals/giraffe.html to read, watch, and listen to supporting research and commentary from scientists, doctors, theologians, and more!
This blog is from a special series of “Creation Fun Facts” by Terri Kammerzell, starting from June 10, 2020. Read the introduction at In Defense of Design.