Question

Biologists have classified the elephant shrew, a small mole-like mammal, with other shrews of similar size and body shape. However, this classification has been questioned, since elephant shrews have much more well-developed eyes and ears than other animals in the shrew family and use their tongues like anteaters to feed on insects, a trait not shared with true shrews. Because of their similarities to anteaters, a biologist has proposed that the elephant shrew is more closely related to anteaters than to shrews. Design a plan for investigating the validity of this new hypothesis. Describe your plan and include the methods and sources of material you would need to carry out your plan.

Answer 1

Hypothesis to validate: elephant shrew is more closely related to anteaters than to shrews.

I would obtain DNA from all three organisms and sequence the DNA to compare the similarities in sequences, the larger the percentage of sequence similarity, the closer the relationship and the more recent they share a common ancestor. I would also compare the sequence of conserved genes specifically as a proxy to determine how genetically related the species are.