Give an example of characteristics being used to determine how close two species are in evolutionary terms
A characteristic is a trait or behaviour. We can relate two species from its characteristics, like appearance, limbs, the structure of bones, cranial capacity, carpels, phalanges, number of chromosomes etc. A closely relates species have more similar characteristics. As species become distant, their similarity decreases and diversity increases.
Examples:
Humans and apes DNA are quite related in structure and the number of chromosomes differs by only one pair (humans have 23 pairs of chromosome while apes have 24 pairs of the chromosome).
Amphibians (frog) can live in both water and land, it shows they have evolved from water animals like fishes.
Tiger and cats show a similar appearance.
Dogs and wolves look very similar. It is very hard to differentiate between a pup of a wolf and a dog.
Next: Can the wing of a butterfly and the wing of a bat be considered homologous organs? Why or why not?
