Which animal is related to the hyrax?
Hyraxes also called dassies, are small, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea. Hyraxes are well-furred, rotund animals with short tails. Typically, they measure between 30 and 70 cm (12 and 28 in) long and weigh between 2 and 5 kg (4.4 and 11 lb). They are often mistaken for rodents, but are more closely related to elephants and manatees. Four species are recognised; the rock hyrax, the yellow-spotted rock hyrax, the western tree hyrax and the southern tree hyrax. Their distribution is limited to Africa and the Middle East.
Bizarrely, the nearest living relatives of the hyrax are elephants and sea cows (dugongs). The three species are believed to have evolved from one common ancestor.
More Info:
en.wikipedia.org
What are your thoughts on this subject?
35 Comments
Raymond Cardona
Well you know the old saying “You learn something new everyday!!”
Bonnie
Richard D. Boyle
Textbook example of “counterintuitive.”
steve
I would REALLY like to see what that "common ancestor" looked like!!
Vaughan Smith
Jacky Pierce Friedman, a small point: herds of elephant, not packs
Gautam Sinha
Yes, this lil creature was a well-known chap from Joy Adamson's: Born Free.
Cheryl McMeekin
Had not idea, great question.
Yvonne Benn
You live and learn.
Denise Currie
Saw this recently on a wildlife programme, was amazed by the fact it is related to an elephant, I would have assumed guinea pig.
Christine Gardner
OMG......who would have EVER thought that???
George Oliver Prince
The answer seemed so ridiculous, it had to be an elephant
Dallas Nash
They can be seen on Table Mountain if you take the cable car to the top
Sue Gembrini-Spataro
A picture of it would have been nice.
Jacky Pierce Friedman
Rob Farr,
I saw a documentary about elephants several years ago. They did an experiment where they put a mouse on the ground where some elephants we're headed to between some bushes. When the lead elephant saw the mouse she stopped and wouldn't go any further. She backed her and the rest of the group up and took a different route.
They did this with several different packs of elephants in different areas and had the same reaction.
None of the elephants would go near or past the mouse.
Was very interesting.
Jacky Pierce Friedman
Never heard of them before. But good article.
Vaughan Smith
Hard to believe though it is, this is what experts have determined. It might shake your belief in evolution. Like South Africans, we in Zimbabwe learned this factoid with fascination, as kids. The "dassie," or rock rabbit as it is also called in Zimbabwe, is common throughout the granite ranges which cover two thirds of the country. And, as always, some arrogant twits continue to put comments disputing the correct answer supplied, simply because they are ignorant. They are like those who clung to the "flat Earth" theory long after the truth was known. (The Bible referred to a round Earth at least 2,600 years ago).