Is The Hippopotamus The Closest Living Relative To The Whale?
Hippos spend lots of time in the water and now it turns out (or researchers argue), they are the closest living relative to whales. It also turns out, the two are swimming in a bit of controversy.
Jessica Theodor, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary, and her colleague Jonathan Geisler, associate professor at Georgia Southern University are disputing a recent study that creates a different family tree for the hippo.
That research was published inNature in December 2007 by J. G. M. Thewissen, a professor at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, and his colleagues. Thewissen says that whales are more closely linked to an extinct pig-like animal, often known as India’s pig or Indohyus, while hippos are closely related to living pigs.
But this isn’t accurate according to Theodor.
“What Thewissen is saying is that Indohyus is the closest relative of whales – and we agree. Where we think he is wrong, is that he is saying that that hippos are more closely related to true pigs than they are to whales,” says Theodor. “This contradicts most of the data from DNA from the last 12 or 13 years. Those data place hippos as the closest living relative to whales.”
She says Thewissen did not use DNA evidence, instead used fossil evidence alone to create a family tree and reach the conclusion that hippos have more in common with pigs than whales.
“And the reason their tree is so different is simple: by excluding all the DNA information they left out all the data that shows a strong relationship between whales and hippos.”
Theodor’s rebuttal of Thewissen’s work will appear in Nature on Thursday, March 19.
The controversy began after the new fossil of Indohyus, was discovered and written about by Thewissen and his group. This animal lived around 48 million years ago, lived in the water and fed on land.
When biologists study family trees, they traditionally rely on morphology, in other words, the shape of bones. More recently, the DNA revolution means that scientists can use DNA data as another tool to reconstruct family trees, but DNA data can’t be used all the time because DNA is not available for most fossils.
“In order to get the best understanding, researchers combine the two sources of data in a single analysis. But what Thewissen and his group did, was leave one of the major ones out,” says Theodor.
Before the widespread use of DNA data, hippos had been thought to be closely related to pigs, but DNA data show that whales are closely related to hippos. Geisler and Theodor argue that leaving out the DNA data not only ignores important information, it implies that the evolution of swimming evolved independently in hippos and whales, when it may have evolved only once in a common ancestor.
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Since hippos spend a lot of time in the water, scientists have come to the conclusion that hippos are the closest living thing to whales.
This is about if scientists thinking thay hippos are related to whales.
1.Jessica Theodor, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary, and her colleague Jonathan Geisler, associate professor at Georgia Southern University are disputing a recent study that creates a different family tree for the hippo.
2.She says Thewissen did not use DNA evidence, instead used fossil evidence alone to create a family tree and reach the conclusion that hippos have more in common with pigs than whales.
3.“And the reason their tree is so different is simple: by excluding all the DNA information they left out all the data that shows a strong relationship between whales and hippos.”
4.Before the widespread use of DNA data, hippos had been thought to be closely related to pigs, but DNA data show that whales are closely related to hippos
5.The controversy began after the new fossil of Indohyus, was discovered and written about by Thewissen and his group.
1. Hippos spend most of their time in the water.
2. Some scientists think pigs are closer to hippos.
3. When biologists study family trees they reply on the shape of the bones.
4. The bones of whales look the same as hippos.
5. Their DNA are very close alike.
Hippopotumases are the closest relatives to whales.
The wissen did not use DNA evidence.
Jessica Theodor, is an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary.
One group of scientist debate that the hippos are more related to pigs.
1. scientist argue that hippos are the closest living relatives to the whales
2. the two are swimming in controvercy
3. the closest relative to the whale the Indohyus is exstinct
4. scienist believe that whales and hippos share common ancestors
1.HIPPOS SPEND LOTS OF TIME IN THE WATER.
2. HIPPOS EAT THERE OWN POOP.
1. you con use bones to tell DNA
2.whales are the closest living relitive to the hippos
3.some people think pigs are closer to hippos not wheles
Some biological researchers have figured out that the hippo may be the closest living thing to the whale. They say this because of several things. One is that the hippo spends most of it’s time in the water, and the whale lives in the water. A few 48 millon years ago the Indian Pig was delcared the closest living thing to thw wahle, but it is now extinct. Also, the researches have found out that the hippo is now related to the whale. They figured this out by using DNA instead of fossil resources. So, that is whatn the closet living thing to the whale is.
1. this article is about a debate about if hippos are the closing living relative to the whale.
2. scienist believe that whales and hippos share common ancestors
3. hippos spend alot of time in water
4. The way scientist come to these conclusions is because of the D.N.A in the animal’s bones.
article summary
1. Hippos spend most of their time in water.
2. Researchers discovered hippos are the closest living relative to whales.
3. They know now that hippos are closer to whales than pigs.
4. The closest relative to the whale is the Indohyus which is exstinct
5. You can use bones to tell DNA
1. this article is about a debate about if hippos are the closing living relative to the whale.
2. scienist believe that whales and hippos share common ancestors
3. hippos spend alot of time in water
4. The way scientist come to these conclusions is because of the D.N.A in the animal’s bones
5.they took and saved dna from 12 to 13 years
It is being debated whether hippos are more closely related to live pigs or whales. Jessica Theodore is saying that the hippo is more closely related to the whale than the pig, and she received her research from DNA. While J. G. M. Thewissen, who came up with the results that the hippos were more closely related to live pigs, got their results from fossil research. Now, Theodore is saying that the reason J. G. M. Thewissen got the results they got was because they left out the DNA research which shows how closely the whale and hippo are related. Although the hippos are not as close related to the whale as a Indohyus, extinct pig, their will be testing performed to find the true answer to this controversy. The results will be available in Nature soon.
Some biological researchers have figured out that the hippo may be the closest living thing to the whale. They say this because of several things. One is that the hippo spends most of it’s time in the water, and the whale lives in the water. A few 48 millon years ago the Indian Pig was delcared the closest living thing to thw wahle, but it is now extinct. Also, the researches have found out that the hippo is now related to the whale. They figured this out by using DNA instead of fossil resources. So, that is whatn the closet living thing to the whale is.
.Thewissen that whales are more closely linked to an extinct pig-like animal, often known as India’s pig or indohyus, while while hippos are closely related to living pigs.
2.When biologists study family trees, they traditiondally rely on mophology in other words, the shape of bones.
3.Those date place hippos as the closest living relative to whales.
4. Hippos spend lots of time in water an now it turns out the are the closest living thing to whales.
5.It also turns out the two are swimming in a bit of controversy.
-Hippos spend a lot of time in the water.
-They are the closest living relative to the whale.
-People used to think that the whales were closely realated to an extinct India Pig.
-They have studied two other animals DNA for about 12 through 13 years.
-The DNA shows that the whales are closely related to hippos.
Andrew Rice Dec.13 5th period
1.Hippos spend most of there time in water.
2. they are the closest living relative to whales.
3. the two are swimming in a bit of controversy.
4.That research was published inNature in December 2007
5.hippos had been thought to be closely related to pigs
~ Hippos spend lots of time in the water
~ They are the closest living relative to whales.
~ Hippoes might be closer to pigs than whales
~ Jessica Theodor and Jonathan Geisler are disputing a recent study that creates a different family tree for the hippo
~ When biologists study family trees, they traditionally rely on the shape of bones
1.You can use fossles instead of using DNA to tell relatives
2Hippos are the closest liveing relative to the whales.
3Hippos have been alive 48 million years.
4.Some people think that hippos are closer to pigs not whales.
5.Before DNA people thought that hippos looked more like pigs so they said that was there closest liveing relative.
1.Jessica Theodor is an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.
2.Hippos spend lots of time in the water.
3.This contradicts most of the data from DNA from the last 12 or 13 years.
4.The DNA revolution means that scientists can use DNA data as another tool to reconstruct family trees.
5.It implies that the evolution of swimming evolved independently in hippos and whales.
Scientist are debating on the subject of which animal is more closely related the hippo, the whale or a pig (Indohyus). Jessica Theodor said that the whale is more closey related to the whale than the pig. But J.G.M Thewissen thinks otherwise. He thinks that the pig is more closely related to the hippo. Theodor says that he has missed one of the most important details of the observation, he did not use DNA evidence. Instead he used fossil evidence which is not enough to really say that the pig is related to the hippo.