I'd heard a while before that these guys were the closest living relatives to elephants. It's fun to find out what they do have in common, since their similarity isn't really on the surface.
Rock hyraxes are especially adapted to an intense environment. As their name indicates, they spend much of their life on rocks. Hot rocks in mostly the African sun. This doesn't allow them a lot of hiding places, and they are very much a prey species, so they have to get wily.
2 comments:
When I read your post I remembered having heard about the relationship between elephants and hyraxes before. It ought not to be that much of a surprise once we consider that each and every one of us is related by the simple fact we share the only planet we know of that supports complex life - or any life for that matter.
I also recall reading somewhere that humans are genetically similar to kangaroos. Of course, it's also true we share about half of our genetic material with worms and fruit flies - which goes a long way in supporting my first claim.
As you say, it's the only planet we know of that supports life. Which raises some deep questions. Panspermia is the theory that at some level life on earth came here or was sent from another location in the cosmos. Of course we have no idea how that would happen, but we also don't know how it first started on this planet, if it did.
The genetic similarity between humans and kangaroos is interesting. Obviously there are some big differences. But they are a large and complex example of mammalian life, so maybe that's where it ties in. In the same article I read that they might have started in China, which makes sense when you remember that marsupials used to cover much more of the earth's surface.
Post a Comment