Question

In giraffes, long necks (n), long legs (l), dark spots (d), and the ability to digest maize (m) are all dominant traits. what possible genotype could a long-necked, short-legged, light-spotted, maize-digesting giraffe have?

Answer 1

A long-necked, short-legged, light-spotted, maize-digesting giraffe could have a genotype of NN (or Nn), ll, dd, and MM (or Mm). Due to the fact that long necks are dominant, the giraffe would only need one dominant allele to have the phenotype. Therefore the giraffe could have two dominant alleles or one dominant and one recessive. Because long legs and dark spots are dominant, the giraffe must have two recessive alleles for each of these traits. As for maize digestion, the giraffe only needs one dominant allele to have the trait, so they could be MM or Mm.