Question

Axel draws a cladogram containing a zebra, bear, lion, and tiger. He uses the physical appearances of the animals to decide where they should be placed in his cladogram. Is he correct? Why or why not?

Answer 1

A cladogram containing a zebra, bear, lion, and tiger, should look like this:

                                                       mammalia

                                                      I                 I

                                     carnivora                      perissodactyla

                                     I            I                                   I

                      arctoidea          feliformia                equidae

                       I                               I                              I

              ursidae                       felidae                    equini

                I                                      I                              I

          ursus                             pantherinae             equus

                                                       I                          

                                                  panthera

                                                  I            I

                             panthera tigris        panthera leo  

All four animals are part of the mammals, thus it is the closest relation they all have. Further, the lion, tiger, and bear are part of the carnivores, while the zebra is part of herbivores, thus purring the first three to be more closely connected. The bear than diverges into its own family, while the lion and tiger remain in the same, thus making them the most closely related. So we have the lion and tiger to be the closest, than comes the bear, being closer to them then to the zebra, and then comes the zebra which is connected with the other three much further back in the past.