Final answer:
The chances of a short-legged giraffe and a heterozygous long-legged giraffe producing an offspring with long legs is 50%, assuming a simple dominant-recessive inheritance pattern for leg length.
Step-by-step explanation:
If a short-legged giraffe had a baby with a heterozygous long-legged giraffe, to determine the chances of producing an offspring with long legs, we use Mendelian genetics. Let's assume the gene for leg length in giraffes has two alleles: one for short legs (s) and one for long legs (L). The short-legged giraffe would have the genotype 'ss' and the long-legged heterozygous giraffe would have the genotype 'Ls'. Using a Punnett square, we can predict their offspring's genotypes.
- The short-legged giraffe can only pass on the 's' allele.
- The heterozygous long-legged giraffe can pass on either 'L' or 's' with equal probability.
When we cross 'ss' with 'Ls', the possible offspring genotypes are 'Ls' and 'ss'. Thus, there is a 50% chance of an offspring with the 'Ls' genotype (long legs), and a 50% chance of an offspring with the 'ss' genotype (short legs). Hence, the chances of them producing an offspring with long legs are 50%.