Found the closest relatives of the elephant on Earth

Scientists have made an unexpected discovery.

As it turned out, the closest relative of the elephant on the Ground – it is a small and furry animal that lives in Africa. As the researchers note, to be a relative of a beast in the animal Kingdom do not have to have external similarity.

So studies have shown that the closest relatives overall and lumbering elephants hyraxes are small, which looks more like a mix of a beaver with a Groundhog. At first glance, this is a common rodent, but the DNA analysis, structure of the skeleton and skull of hyraxes showed that they have a lot of similarities with elephants and almost nothing from rodents.

The scientists also explain that the hyraxes, like elephants, are herbivores. In real life they are very calm, measured and even lazy. African hyraxes even listed in the Red book as one of the endangered species. It is noteworthy that in Africa, the petrified excrement of hyraxes is used as one of the important components included in the composition of very expensive perfume.

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