It has been taken for granted that the giraffe's neck evolved to reach leaves that other plant-eaters can't.
What seemed obvious to Charles Darwin has since attracted a lot of scrutiny, with some biologists suggesting that the male weapons of war are not for browsing, but for fighting.
There is a lot of room for debate over the benefits of the giraffe's cartoonish appearance.
At least one giraffe-like grazedr had necks built for bashing, according to a study based on the skull and vertebrae of an ancient herbivore.
The American Museum of Natural History in New York City is where the bones were found more than two decades ago.
A fresh analysis of the discovery by Meng and his colleagues has revealed characteristics of the mammal that may help us understand the forces involved in the development of the giraffe's unique anatomy.
The Discokeryx xiezhi was found to be an ancient member of the Giraffoidea super family that lived 17 million years ago.
The stocky build capped in a skull is reminiscent of a medieval foot-soldier's helmet. It is the kind of headgear that is perfect for weathering a clash with a rival.
The team of researchers used a mathematical technique to measure the strength of the skull and vertebrae under different types of physical conflict.
The specific structure of the bones and their joints was found to be more resistant to violence than any other animal.
Head-to-head combat is not a new behavior for this branch of the animal kingdom.
The study's first author, Wang Shi-Qi, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that both living giraffes and Discokeryx xiezhi are part of a super family.
Both of their skull and neck morphologies have evolved in an extreme direction.
A comparison of skulls and horns of ancient ruminating mammals suggests that relatives to the giraffe evolved a wider variety of headgear, building a case for combat as a major factor in the evolution of the giraffe.
Modern giraffes evolved to suit the open grassland habitat D. xiezhi found itself in.
Discokeryx xiezhi was living in open grassland and may have migrated at some point in the past.
There is no easy way to show the kinds of pressures that affect an organisms features.
Natural selection does not discriminate when it comes to purpose. If a long neck helps fight, feed, and flee predators without compromising too much on fitness, then it will stay around a little longer.
Knowing that there are a few butt-heads in the family may help convince a few more biologists that a long neck is a useful tool.
The research was published in a journal.
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