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joe
Lv 4
joe asked in Science & MathematicsZoology · 6 months ago

what animals alive today are the last surviving members of their entire clade?

Update:

apparently only the people who said human understand what a clade is...

all other animals that have been listed so far are not the sole extant members of their clades. rhino is close, but there are 3 species (soon to be 2) so is not sole extant. same with elephant. 2 species

7 Answers

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  • 5 months ago

    As member Ray implies, if you want your question to make sense, you'd need to specify "how deep in evolutionary history" you're talking about.  There are clades only a few hundred thousand years old, and there are clades hundreds of millions, or even billions, of years old.

  • Ray
    Lv 6
    6 months ago

    Clade is a tough subject because it does not specify how deep in evolutionary history we are grouping animals. 

    With that said, 3 mammal clades survived the kt extinction, placentals have taken over, Marsupials are barely holding out, and Monotremes are all but gone. There are only 5 monotreme species left [egg laying mammals]. In the  future when Australia collides with Asia, i expect a similar result to when South America [rich in marsupials] collided with north America. 

    Possums are the only conquerors in the Marsupial clade left. With Australia we shall see. Canids [Dingo], which were introduced by man, are already being attributed to the extinction of many animals in Australia, just how carnivora [including canids] are thought to have caused the terror birds near extinction in South America. We shall see

  • 6 months ago

    The red panda is the only living member of the genus Ailurus and the family Ailuridae.

  • 6 months ago

    Humans are the last of the hominini clade.

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  • ?
    Lv 7
    6 months ago

    The Northern White Rhino. There are two left (both female); so functionally extinct. Poached for their horns.

    Source(s): (10/2020)
  • ?
    Lv 7
    6 months ago

    Tiger.

    Red tuna.

    Asian elephant.

    porpoise.

    Mountain gorilla.

    Irrawaddy river dolphin.

    Rhinos.

    Cheetahs.

    Swordfish.

    Elephants.

  • Asep
    Lv 7
    6 months ago

    Humans.               

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