Figure 1 (IMAGE)
Caption
A simplified cladogram of the superorder Uranotheria demonstrating the extant (black) and extinct (gray) clades, including the estimated divergence dates between the three extant species of elephants and the dates of other key evolutionary splits. Since the three surviving species of elephants diverged from a common ancestor ~7 million years ago yet all show similar features associated with self-domestication, the implication is that these features were likely also present in their common ancestor as well. Since the most recent common ancestor of humans and elephants is likely the most recent common ancestor of all placental mammals, comparing the process of self-domestication in these evolutionarily distant species can lead to important insights about convergent evolution and the process of self-domestication beyond primates. Figure adapted and updated with permission from Shoshani, 1998.
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Figure adapted and updated with permission from Shoshani, 1998.
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