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Evolutionary Trees
Evolutionary Trees
Evolutionary trees show how scientists believe organisms are related to one another.
What is evolution?
A family tree, like the one above, illustrates how people are related to each other.
It can be used to trace genetic links, including medical conditions that might be inherited, such as cystic fibrosis.
Who is genetically most closely related to Emma?
A) Peter B) Tony C) Hannah
Do Anja and Jukka share any genes? Answer yes or no.
Although we may all look very different from each other, we are more alike than different! What percentage of your DNA is the same as every other person on Earth?
Give a number to 1 decimal place.
How closely a species is related to another species can be seen in their genetics. The more DNA sequences they share, the more closely related they are in terms of their evolution. So how closely related to a jellyfish are you, do you think?
Mapping DNA between species is a powerful way to see how closely related they are. Scientists use an evolutionary tree to illustrate these links.
This simple version of an evolutionary tree shows the link between three primate species.
Humans, chimpanzees and gorillas.
Based on this, are chimps more closely related to humans or gorillas?
Here we can see how these different primates are related.
Baboons and Chimps share a common ancestor about 3 million years ago. This means chimps are more closely related to baboons than to humans.
How many millions of years ago did humans split from chimps and baboons?
Which primates are we least closely related to, according to this data?
To provide data for these diagrams, what is the best information to use for living species?
For species that went extinct millions of years ago, it is not possible to obtain DNA. Therefore, what other data could be used?