Animals Where You'd Be Surprised to Learn How Much They Are Related
Nowadays animals (and any living creatures in general) aren't classified based on morphological simmilarities, just genetic relation. In some cases, these relations aren't the same as we might believe. Each of us know some closer relations like mammooth-elephant, but can you guess who are the closest living relatives of elephants? You might guess rhinoceros or hippos but the actual closest relative doesn't resemble elephants at all.You might wonder how close the relation should be between animals in an item. You could say, "of course elephants and hyraxes are related, they are both mammals. That's right, but not surprising. This is a subjective list, if you add items, you have to judge if a relation is close enough to be surprising.
While at first it may be a surprise that birds' closest living relatives are crocodiles, it isn't astounding if you think beyond. Most of us know birds are related to reptiles, but it's a lesser-known fact that crocodiles are less related to turtles (some other reptiles) than to birds.
This is actually a pretty well-known fact, but it still surprises most people. Treeshrews have the largest brains in proportion to the rest of their body. While the resemblance is minimal, I actually find treeshrews' ears somewhat similar to human ears. The order of animal groups from the most related to humans:
1. Chimpanzees
2. Gorillas
3. Orangutans
4. Gibbons
5. Cercopithecidae (e.g., swamp monkey, talapoin, macaque, vervet)
6. New World monkeys
7. Tarsiers
8. Every other primate
9. Flying lemurs
10. Treeshrews
All these animals together make up the clade Euarchonta.
Hyraxes are the closest living relatives of the three elephant species. There is even an African language in which hyraxes are called the small brothers of elephants. Hyraxes have no very close relatives, so they make up an individual order called Hyracoidea. If you haven't heard of them, check them out. They don't resemble elephants in any way.
Sharks and rajas are two types of cartilaginous fish commonly known. Rabbit fish (not to be confused with rabbitfish) are lesser-known and they look nothing like sharks and rajas.
Not the most surprising on the list, but I would think that flies' (which includes mosquitoes) closest relatives are bees or wasps. Flies and mosquitoes make up the order Diptera, while they form a bigger clade with fleas (which is a separate order as well). Their next closest relatives (excluding some obscure groups) are butterflies.
This is more like "animals you'd be surprised are NOT related." Hedgehog tenrecs look exactly like hedgehogs at first glance, then you realize their heads don't resemble hedgehogs at all. Together with golden moles (who aren't closely related to moles), hedgehog tenrecs (not closely related to hedgehogs) belong in the order Afrosoricida. Real hedgehogs' relatives are shrews (who aren't relatives of treeshrews and elephant shrews).
When you see an elephant shrew, you would think there's more shrew in it than elephant, but it is the opposite case. I put it low because the relation isn't very close: they only belong to the same superorder of placentals but different orders.
Believe it or not, hyenas are closer relatives of cats than dogs. They both belong in the suborder Feliformia, while dogs are in Caniformia, together with bears, weasels, and seals.
Carnivore here refers to an order of mammals consisting of (among others) wolves, foxes, seals, hyenas, and cats. Together with pangolins, they make up the clade Ferae, which was the original name of the carnivore group in Linnaeus' times.
Not sure if this is surprising or not. Penguins make up a separate order of birds, and the closest related order of birds consists of various seabirds, including albatrosses, petrels, storm petrels, and shearwaters.
Falcons are more closely related to parrots than to hawks.
Birds and reptiles are often considered by some to be "the last living dinosaurs." I'm not sure if they're related, but they were living at the time of the dinosaurs.
Dogs are related to trash pandas? Interesting.
Wait, the crabs, lobsters, crawdads, and shrimp (crustaceans) we eat are related to the little buggers that fly around us? I never knew that.
Together with pangolins, cetaceans, and bats, they are the clade Scrotifera.
Can't believe I had to add this one. They are members of the same order: Pilosa, which is part of Xenarthra (which also includes armadillos).