Darwin realised that within the enormous diversity of life on the Earth, there appeared to be natural groupings, based on similarities and differences between different species. At that time there was no rational explanation for how these groupings had arisen but his theory of evolution by natural selection provided an explanation.

Some groupings of mammals are familiar to us, for example the domestic cat is closely related to big cats, such as the lion and tiger. Others may be more surprising. For example, did you know that the cow and the sheep are more closely related to the dolphin than to the horse? Evidence for this comes from analysis of the structure and positioning of the bones in these mammals.

Relationships between different mammals have been elucidated by observation of structural features and more recently by analysis at molecular level. See here how analysis of DNA protein has verified our relatedness to other primates, and the place of dolphins within the gropu of mammels which includes cows and camels!

This talk is part of the "How Did we get Here?" day which has changed date and move to University Centre on Silbury Boulevard. How Did we get Here? will run from 11am-3pm.  This talk will take place at 1pm.

Date: 24/10/2009
Location: University Centre Milton Keynes, 200 Silbury Boulevard, MK9 1LT
Admission: FREE
Places Remaining: 20