[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote
>How to classify animals has become quite controversial in the scientific
>community. Some want to classify by characteristics (traditional), others
>include more on bone structure (somewhat traditional) and others suggest DNA
>analysis (radical). There's also completely new classification systems
>being proposed that have no relationship to what we use now.
>
>In terms of behavior, my gerbs have always acted much more squirrel-like
>than rat or mouse. I bet they were originally classified on appearance
>only. Seems early Anglo explorers called them "yellow rats".
Of course classification is controversial, but gerbils are classified as
"hamster like" on the basis of genetics. When they were classified on
the basis of appearance they were classified as Jerboas.
Squirrels may have a superficial similarity but they cannot be anything
other than distantly related to gerbils. The biochemical evidence is
that Gerbils and Hamsters separated from the rest of rodents
approximately 65 million years ago at the same time that rodents
exploded into a vast range of habitats.
--
Julian
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* Jackie and Julian *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* National Gerbil Society *
* http://www.gerbils.co.uk/ *
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