#21 - One method of dating the emergence of species is to

[Luke Haqq]

Hi ericsilvagomez!

Apologies if I don't understand your question, but on my reading "the other bears" isn't referring to all of the animals mentioned but rather only those of them that are bears.

[ericsilvagomez]

Hi,

I may have misread that part of the paragraph, so my bad! I see now that the "all seven bear species" part differs from the other animals. D may be correct because the sentence says giant pandas diverged from the other bears some 10 million years before, correct? The paragraph also mentions that bears and raccoons diverged 30 to 50 million years ago. It then states that red pandas separated from the ancestor of today's raccoons and coatis a few million years later, around that period. Is my logic correct?

[Luke Haqq]

Hi ericsilvagomez!

Yes, the bears and raccoons diverging 30 to 50 million years ago aspect and giant pandas diverged "some 10 million years before" are both crucial. Those pieces are telling when combined with the theory that "the more genetically similar two species are to each other, the more recently they diverged from a common ancestor."

So bears and raccoons diverged at a particular point in time. At a more recent time, giant pandas diverged from the other bears. Since this divergence is more recent, we know that giant pandas are genetically more similar to other bears than than they are to raccoons.

[lsatstudent99966]

Hi there,

Regarding answer choice (E), aside from the stimulus saying nothing about "substantial consensus," I think the correct inference should be that red pandas are more closely related to raccoons, right?

Here is my thought process:

1. Bears and raccoons diverged from a common ancestor 30-50 million years ago.
2. Red pandas diverged from raccoons a few million years later.
3. Giant pandas diverged from bears most recently.
4. The earliest divergence between bears and raccoons, which occurred 30-50 million years ago, already separated giant pandas and raccoons (although the species "giant panda" didn't exist then); whereas red pandas diverged from raccoons a few million years later. Therefore, red pandas are more closely related to raccoons.

[Dana D]

Hey there,

I think your inference about red pandas is correct, so another reason answer choice (E) wouldn't be right. Good job!

[lsatstudent99966]

Hey there,

I think your inference about red pandas is correct, so another reason answer choice (E) wouldn't be right. Good job!

Thank you so much Dana!