Evolution of squirrels

2003/02/24 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Eboluzioa
• Zoologia

There are 273 species of squirrels. A lot. Some live on the ground, others on the trees and a few have planning capacity. It has now been known that the diversification of squirrels coincides with continental movements and/or climate changes.

The study began when researchers at Duke University studied morphological differences between squirrel species of different sizes. When they wanted to determine the relationship between species, they realized that one had been shared from the main tree before what was thought. Tissue samples from live squirrel species present in museums were collected and genetic analyses were performed.

These analyses confirm that the squirrels were distributed earlier than expected from their main tree. In addition, they have seen that some of the milestones of their evolutionary process coincided with the global changes that occurred on Earth. That is, the branches of the evolutionary tree of the squirrels were formed with great geological and climatic phenomena. This conclusion is not surprising, but it is very interesting to find the genetic equivalents of these logical sequences.

Photo: Anonymous