During a presentation about evolution, a student claims that modern giraffes inherited their long necks from ancestral giraffes that stretched their necks to reach for leaves on tall trees. which best describes the claim? stretching the neck causes gene mutations that can result in an even longer neck. these genes are then passed on to the giraffe's offspring. stretching the neck enabled giraffes to reach higher, which gives them an advantage to survive, reproduce, and pass on this trait. ancestral giraffes had longer necks than modern giraffes, so the claim is not supported by research. traits that are acquired during an organism's lifetime are not passed on through genes.