Observations on the giraffe central nervous system related to the corticospinal tract, motor cortex and spinal cord: what difference does a long neck make?
The mammalian corticospinal tract is known to contain axons that travel from the cerebral cortex to various levels of the spinal cord and its main function is thought to be the mediation of voluntary movement. The current study describes neuroanatomy related to the corticospinal tract of the giraffe. This animal presents a specific morphology that may present challenges to this neural pathway in terms of the metabolism required for correct functioning and maintenance of potentially very long axons. The spinal