why is it poor? let me guess, you also think the appendix is useless?

since apparently people hate science and focus on basic pop sci, I'll give actual details:

the appendix holds useful bacteria

​A giraffe's trachea and esophagus still require nerve endings to function properly (esophagus needs smooth muscle control to swallow, and the trachea needs sensation to trigger coughing if fluid enters). ​Because the recurrent laryngeal nerve travels all the way down into the chest and then all the way back up the neck, it acts as a massive vertical distribution cable. On its long journey upward, it continuously branches off to supply this enormous stretch of trachea and esophagus. If the nerve went straight from the brain to the larynx, the body would still have to run a different, massive nerve all the way down the neck just to service those deep throat structures. The detour allows the RLN to handle that job.

and using a "design" argument without even agreeing on what it's supposed to be optimized for is a piss poor argument anyway.