Can You Guess What These Weird Extinct Animals Are Related To?

Darwin couldn't figure it out. But science just did!

During his cruise aboard the HMS Beagle, Darwin came across some pretty weird looking bones in South America.

How these creatures fit into the evolutionary history of mammals has been a big mystery. It confused even Darwin. Now, a new study appears to have solved the problem. Put yourself in Darwin's shoes, what do you think they are most closely related to?

Did you get it right?

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How did you do this time?

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Both belonged to a group of creatures called Perissodactyla.

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The Perissodactyla are also known as odd-toed ungulates. The only living odd-toed ungulates are horses, tapirs, and rhinoceroses.

The curious creatures Darwin ran into have been extinct for at least 10,000 years and their bones are like nothing anyone had seen before or since.

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Making matters more complicated, it's next to impossible to extract workable DNA from these specimens.

But that's not a problem anymore! A new study published in Nature describes a brand-new technique to solve the problem. In it, the researchers were able to extract and chemically analyze collagen (a protein in bone) and compare it to the collagen of other living creatures.

Not only was an age-old science problem solved, but the door to a whole new world of scientific possibilities may have just been opened.

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