Some organisms that appear very closely related may not actually be closely related. Why is this? 1. There are cases where organisms used to be closely related but diverged from each other and no longer look closely related. 2. There are cases where organisms can interbreed making them look like a single species, when in fact they are not closely related at all. 3. There are cases where organisms evolved through convergence and appear closely related but are not. 4. There are cases when extremely distant taxa can recombine into a single group. Choose the correct answer and Provide 4-5 line explanation with example.

Some organisms that appear very closely related may not actually be closely related. Why is this?

1. There are cases where organisms used to be closely related but diverged from each other and no longer look closely related.

2. There are cases where organisms can interbreed making them look like a single species, when in fact they are not closely related at all.

3. There are cases where organisms evolved through convergence and appear closely related but are not.

4. There are cases when extremely distant taxa can recombine into a single group.

Choose the correct answer and Provide 4-5 line explanation with example.

Answer:

Correct Answer: 3. There are cases where organisms evolved through convergence and appear closely related but are not.

Explanation: Convergence occurs when unrelated organisms evolve similar traits due to similar environmental pressures. This can lead to the deceptive appearance of close relatedness. An example is the streamlined bodies of sharks and dolphins. Despite looking similar for efficient swimming, sharks are fish, and dolphins are mammals, with different evolutionary histories.